Originally, Donald J. Trump's Facebook ban could have ended just two weeks after Joe Biden took office. And while the former U.S. president is still not allowed to post any recent updates that are all capital letters, the potential timeline for his return has turned out to be much longer than we once thought.

The news comes as Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg announced today (Friday, June 4) that President Trump is currently banned from Facebook until January 7, 2023. However, Trump's ban could be extended.

This is the second news this week about Trump's online presence, as his personal social network (basically a blog, with buttons for sharing content to other social networks) was shut down on Wednesday (June 2). Trump's senior aide Jason Miller said this was a precursor to Trump joining another social media platform.

This all goes back to the straw that broke Zuck's back, when Trump's rhetoric enabled and abetted the violent attack on Capitol Hill on January 6 (the day before the first suspension). Twitter suspended his account for 12 hours and then began deleting his incendiary tweets. Twitter then gave Trump a "permanent suspension" on January 8.

Facebook's ban is biased on the side of potentially reinstating Trump: on January 7, CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted that Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts "indefinitely, at least for the next two weeks until a peaceful transition of power is completed." He posted that they would be suspended and announced the ban.

In addition to this announcement, a new Facebook policy was also announced. Penalties like those Trump is facing will also apply to other "public figures during times of civil unrest or ongoing violence." The penalties appear to be divided into four levels: one month, six months, one year, and two years.

Trump received the maximum penalty because (in Clegg's words) "given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Trump's suspension, we believe that his conduct constitutes a serious violation of the rules that merits the maximum penalty available."

Two years after the first day Trump was ousted, "[Facebook's oversight board] will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded."

The oversight committee will check this status by examining "external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly, and other indicators of civil unrest." In other words, if Trump in 2023 remains the same Donald who was promoting insurgency, he will remain locked out of Facebook.

Clegg described this decision as in the public's best interest because the social network will "determine whether there is still a significant risk to public safety." If so, Facebook will extend the suspension period and re-evaluate. The post suggests that the company will continue this pattern until President Trump is no longer stirring up unrest. The former president has apparently told those around him that he plans to be "reinstated" to the White House this August, something that is not in the Constitution, much less on the cards.