By Paul Ziobro and Jeff Horwitz

Facebook Inc. said it is suspending Donald Trump's accounts for two years, formalizing a longterm penalty for the former U.S. president after its independent Oversight Board said the company was wrong to keep the ban open-ended.

Facebook said it would revisit the suspension two years from the date of its initial move to suspend him on Jan. 7, the day after the riots at the U.S. Capitol.

"Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump's suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols," the company wrote in a blog post on Friday.

(More to come.)

Write to Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com and Jeff Horwitz at Jeff.Horwitz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-04-21 1306ET