Trump condemns Facebook's decision to ban him for 2 years as 'abuse'

• Former President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at Facebook after the social media giant announced it would extend his suspension from its platform until January 2023.
• In his statement, the ex-president repeated his lie that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged" - the same lie that helped provoke the Capitol riot.
• Facebook said that Trump would face "rapidly escalating sanctions," including permanent suspension, if he is reinstated and continues to violate the rules.

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Facebook on Friday after the social media giant announced it would extend his suspension from its platform until January 2023.

The company said it will then reexamine its two-year ban, which it implemented in response to Trump's comments about the January 6 Capitol riot, and have experts determine "whether the risk to public safety has receded."

In a statement condemning the company's decision, Trump repeated his lie that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged" and framed Facebook's decision as an attack on Republican voters.

"Facebook's ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election," he said. "They shouldn't be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can't take this abuse anymore!"

Facebook said that Trump would face "rapidly escalating sanctions," including permanent suspension, if he is reinstated and continues to violate the rules.

"Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump's suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, wrote.

Trump has repeatedly - and falsely - claimed that 75 million Americans voted for him in the 2020 election, a significant exaggeration of the 74.22 million who actually voted for him. President Joe Biden received 81.28 million votes, beating Trump in the popular vote by 4.5%. Biden won 306 Electoral College votes to Trump's 232.