By Wendy Via
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By Wendy Via
“Facebook’s decision to let Donald Trump return to the platform is incredibly dangerous. Time and time again, we’ve seen Trump’s lies and rhetoric spread hate, incite violence, and undermine democracies. With its nearly three billion active users, Facebook’s move to welcome Trump back shows its willingness to be complicit in the spread of hate and extremism.
This decision will not only harm those in the United States, but will be devastating to people around the world. Authoritarian-leaning politicians everywhere are watching, and they will celebrate this decision. They have already been inspired by Trump’s successful manipulation of Facebook and its lax rule enforcement for the politically powerful. These far-right leaders will simply ramp up their use of Facebook to spread misinformation to build their base, contributing to political violence and an increase in far-right governments.
The bottom line is that Trump is a proven dangerous threat to our democracy. If that’s not enough for Facebook to continue to ban him, then what is? Facebook, like Twitter under Elon Musk, is on the wrong side of history with this shameful decision that could cause irreversible harm to democracies everywhere.”
In 2021 the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism released a report, Democracies Under Threat, showing the cascade of loopholes starting with Trump that have helped far-right and extremist politicians gain followers and spread hate and disinformation through social media.
