Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is calling it a “sad day for America” after Facebook’s independent Oversight Board upheld the decision to suspend former President Donald Trump.
“It’s a sad day for America. It’s a sad day for Facebook, ‘cuz I can tell you, a number of members of Congress are now looking at, do they break up Facebook? Do they make sure that they don’t have a monopoly?” Meadows said during a Fox News interview on Wednesday.
He added, “I can tell you that it is two different standards. One for Donald Trump and one for a number of other people that are on their sites and suggesting that more nefarious things than what the president has been accused of actually go unnoticed often.”
Meadows reiterated it is a “sad day” especially for the “facebooks of the world who have actually enjoyed a very wild, wild west kind of regulatory environment.”
“I can tell you that’s going to change. The discussion will happen within hours of this decision on Capitol Hill just a few blocks from where I am,” Meadows added.
Watch his comments below:
Mark Meadows' immediate reaction to Trump remaining banned: "It's a sad day for America. It's a sad day for Facebook, 'cuz I can tell you, a number of members of Congress are now looking at, do they break up Facebook? Do they make sure that they don't have a monopoly?" pic.twitter.com/K0SSE0nKlF
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 5, 2021
The board wrote in a statement on Wednesday, “The Board has upheld Facebook’s decision on January 7 to suspend then-President Trump from Facebook and Instagram. Trump’s posts during the Capitol riot severely violated Facebook’s rules and encouraged and legitimized violence.”
Facebook is also required to “review this matter and decide a new penalty that reflects its rules, the severity of the violation, and prospect of future harm” within the next six months.
According to the board, the platform can “either impose a time-limited suspension or account deletion.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also responded to the decision, as IJR reported.
“Facebook is more interested in acting like a Democrat Super PAC than a platform for free speech and open debate,” McCarthy tweeted.
He added, “If they can ban President Trump, all conservative voices could be next.”
