WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump will remain banned from Facebook.
A special panel of the social media platform announced Wednesday they agreed to keep the ban in place for now.
From his home in Palm Beach County, one of Trump's biggest supporters who has organized regular rallies in Palm Beach Gardens, reacted to the news.
"Everybody is ticked off that he got thrown off these social media platforms. That's unheard of. I mean, that's third world," said Trump supporter Willy Guardiola.
He said he had dinner at Mar-a Lago last week, days before the former president launched his own message board.
This week Trump launched his own online platform called "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump."
Guardiola said Trump needs to move on from the social media platforms that have suspended him.
"I think he should dismiss it and just focus on his own social media platform and just run Facebook out," Guardiola said.
On the other side of the political aisle, there is no disappointment regarding Wednesday's announcement.
Rolando Chang Barrero of the Palm Beach County Hispanic Democrats said the former president's words are linked to the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol.
"The only other person that I could ever imagine talking like this would be if Hitler were alive he would have used social media to traverse Europe," Barrero said.
Politics aside, there is the argument about Facebook's actions and how it justifies bans on individuals.
Rick Asnani, a bipartisan political consultant with Cornerstone Solutions in West Palm Beach, spoke on the issue.
"I think if you're Facebook, you are going to be thrust into the middle of a very big conversation about two things. One, is this something you can legally do? And second, how does this open up all the other companies in the future that may say they can do the same thing?" Asnani asked.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign a bill that would penalize social media platforms that institute bans.
"The interesting part is it created this divisiveness again a divided country between the people going to see him as someone who is being villainized by Facebook versus others who basically think he's being given his fair punishment," Asnani said.
