The January 6 committee just reaffirmed why Trump shouldn’t be allowed back on social media
Facebook could let Trump back on the platform in less than six months
Written by Kayla Gogarty
Published
During today’s hearing, a January 6 rioter revealed the extent to which Trump and his social media posts influenced his actions, and the House select committee aired testimony from a former Twitter employee who admitted that the platform took a hands-off approach to former President Donald Trump. The testimonies highlight the real-life harm of Trump’s social media use – which the former president has never once apologized for.
Following the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Facebook suspended Trump’s ability to post on Facebook and Instagram, publicly citing his use of Facebook “to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” Ultimately, Trump’s ban became a two-year suspension, which could end in less than six months if Facebook decides “the risk to public safety has receded.” Elon Musk has similarly promised to reinstate Trump if he takes over Twitter.
On July 12, the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack held its seventh public hearing, which focused on how social media and extremism contributed to the events on January 6.
During the hearing, the committee aired testimony from a former Twitter employee who admitted that if Trump had been any other user, he would have been permanently suspended long before January 6. Trump often posted his tweets on Facebook, and similar to Twitter, that platform also gave Trump special treatment, failing to moderate his violative content and even changing policies to accommodate him.
Citation From July 12, 2022, Fox News coverage of the January 6 Select Committee hearing
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): The point is that Trump’s call to Washington reverberated powerfully and pervasively online. The committee has interviewed a former Twitter employee who explained the effect that Trump had on the Twitter platform. This employee was on the team responsible for platform and content moderation policies and Twitter throughout 2020 and 2021. The employee testified that Twitter considered adopting a stricter content moderation policy after President Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” from the lectern at the September 29 presidential debate. But Twitter chose not to act. Here is the former employee, whose voice has been obscured to protect their identity, discussing Trump’s “stand back and stand by” comment and the effect it had.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
FORMER TWITTER EMPLOYEE: My concern was that the former president for seemingly the first time was speaking directly to extremist organizations and giving them directives. We had not seen that sort of direct communication before. And that concerned me.
INTERVIEWER: So, just to clarify further. You were worried and others at Twitter were worried that the president might use your platform to speak directly to folks who might be incited to violence?
FORMER TWITTER EMPLOYEE: Yes. I believe that Twitter relished in the knowledge that they were also the favorite and most used service of the former president and enjoyed having that sort of power within the social media ecosystem.
INTERVIEWER: If President Trump were anyone else, would it have taken until January 8, 2021, for him to be suspended?
FORMER TWITTER EMPLOYEE: Absolutely not. If the platform or President Donald Trump were any other user on Twitter he would have been permanently suspended a very long time ago.
During the hearing, rioter Stephen Ayres testified the extent to which Trump’s social media posts influenced his actions, as he went to Washington, D.C., for the pro-Trump rally, marched to the Capitol under the direction of Trump, and left right after Trump tweeted a video praising the rioters while reluctantly asking that they “go home.”
Citation From July 12, 2022, CNN coverage of the January 6 Select Committee hearing
REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY (D-FL): Earlier today, we showed how Donald Trump's December 19 tweet summoned both extremist groups as well as rank-and-file supporters of President Trump to come to Washington, D.C. – average Americans. He told them to, quote, “be there, will be wild,” and they came. We showed how President Trump repeatedly told them “fight, fight, fight,” and they marched to the Capitol. Mr. Ayres, you were in that crowd at the rally, and then the crowd that marched to the Capitol. When you arrived on the ellipse that morning, were you planning on going to the Capitol?
STEPHEN AYRES (RIOTER): No, we didn't actually plan to go down there. You know, we went basically to see the “Stop the Steal” rally, and that was it.
MURPHY: So why did you decide to march to the Capitol?
AYRES: Well, basically, you know, the president, you know, he got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down, so we basically were just following what he said.
…
REP. JAIME RASKIN (D-MD): Mr. Ayers, I first want to ask you about what finally caused you to leave on January the 6th. We know that the medieval-style combat with our police, the occupation of the building — this was going on for several hours until the president issued at 4:17 a tweet, I believe, that included a video telling people to go home. Did you see that and did that have any effect on what you were doing?
AYRES: Well, when we were there, as soon as that come out, everybody started talking about it and it seemed like it started to disperse, you know, some of the crowd. Obviously, once we got back to the hotel room, we seen that it was still going on, but it definitely dispersed a lot of the crowd.
RASKIN: And did you leave at that point?
AYRES: Yeah, we did. Yeah, we left.
RASKIN: So in other words, that was the key moment when you decided to leave, when President Trump told people to go home?
AYRES: Yeah, yep. We left right when that come out.
In addition to using social media to direct his supporters and incite violence, Trump repeatedly targeted his enemies and pushed misinformation. In fact, Media Matters found that between January 1, 2020, and January 6, 2021, when Facebook suspended his account, roughly a quarter of these posts contained misinformation, content warranting an additional information label, or harmful rhetoric about others.
Even after being banned or suspended from all major social media platforms, Trump has continued to push misinformation to a smaller audience, repeating the same election lies that incited the January 6 insurrection at his post-presidency rallies and in his published statements. If allowed back on Facebook or Twitter, Trump would likely continue his previous social media behavior, regularly pushing harmful misinformation and extreme rhetoric to a large audience.