Facebook has ruled on the “case” of former US President Donald Trump. The verdict has a mixed feeling: Donald Trump is suspended for two years from the platforms of the social media giant. With this, the case comes to a conclusion! That is how powerful Mark Zuckerberg has become. The Nigerian president experienced the same power when its post, threatening with civil war playbooks, was deleted.
Facebook said it would extend its ban of former President Donald Trump to two years, retroactive to Jan. 7, following his incendiary comments during the Capitol insurrection. Trump would be eligible for reinstatement in January 2023, but the social-media giant said he would only be reinstated if the risk to public safety was deemed to have receded. Going forward, suspensions of public figures in times of unrest would be time-bound, the company announced. Facebook also said it would hold politicians accountable to its hate speech rules.
As I have written here many times, the empires of the future would be run by those who control demand, not supply. Trump saw that in action when it gave up on its own social media platform. The greatest feature in Facebook is this: it has many people there. Forget the technology; anyone can build those features and clone Facebook 100% but without the users, you have no chance.
What will Trump do? Unfortunately, he has limited options from his base. If you check the ranking of American universities, in the top 20, liberal states host more than 80% of them. If you look at the largest cities and per capita income, liberal states run the list. If you look at the formation of great companies, liberal states win. So, if you are hoping for a major conservative social media platform that can give Trump space in the next two years, forget it.
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But do not worry: If Nigeria has its ways, you will not miss this suspension since possibly Nigeria will add Facebook on its suspension list, after Twitter!
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