For Immediate Release
January 17, 2023
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

With reinstatement decision expected by end of the month, billboards urge Facebook employees to put public safety and democracy over Donald Trump.

Mobile billboards from Accountable Tech are circling the national mall and Meta offices in Menlo Park, New York City, and Washington, DC today urging Facebook to uphold its ban of former President Donald Trump. The billboard campaign is aimed at Facebook employees as Meta executives are deciding whether to reinstate Trump’s Facebook account. Donald Trump was suspended by Facebook for at least two years after he used the platform to incite a deadly insurrection against the United States government on January 6, 2021.

The Accountable Tech mobile billboards highlight some of Donald Trump’s 350+ posts on Truth Social that would violate Facebook’s community standards, including posts in which the former President undermines the results of the 2020 and 2022 elections and calls for the termination of the U.S. Constitution.

“Since being banned from Facebook two years ago, Trump has doubled down on the same dangerous and incendiary behavior that sparked a deadly insurrection,” said Nicole Gill, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Accountable Tech. “As we saw on January 6th – and again in Brazil last week – dangerous online behavior leads directly to real-world violence. It is critical that Facebook employees understand what is at stake here, and that they choose to put public safety and American democracy first.”

Background on Accountable Tech’s work to prevent Trump’s reinstatement:

• Last month, Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America relaunched “Keep Trump Off Facebook,” a campaign urging Meta to adhere to its own safety standards and uphold Facebook’s current ban on Donald Trump. The campaign included a six-figure digital and TV ad buy outlining the harms of Trump’s potential reinstatement, along with an open letter to Meta urging the company to uphold its suspension of Donald Trump signed by more than two dozen advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, GLAAD, National Hispanic Media Coalition, and the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

• Accountable Tech released original research finding that more than 350 posts from Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” account – the equivalent of two posts per day – would directly violate Facebook’s Community Standards. Key findings include:

  • 116 posts amplifying followers and sympathizers of QAnon – the violent, anti-semitic conspiracy movement tied to real-world violence and insurrection, labeled by Facebook as a dangerous and militarized social movement and banned on the platform in October 2020.

  • 239 posts containing harmful election-related disinformation meant to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections and American democracy.

  • Repeated violations of Facebook’s standards that prohibit harassment against marginalized groups, including racial minorities and the transgender community.

  • Trump amplified QAnon-related accounts and content 65 times and pushed false claims of election fraud 30 times in the week following the 2022 midterm elections. 

Learn more here: KeepTrumpOffFacebook.com

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