Donald Trump remains suspended from Facebook — for now.
An oversight board upheld a Facebook decision to restrict Trump’s accounts following the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol, but said that it was “not appropriate” for the company to impose an “indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.”
They want the company to review the matter “to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform.”
“The Board has upheld Facebook’s decision on January 7, 2021, to restrict then-President Donald Trump’s access to posting content on his Facebook page and Instagram account,” the board said in its decision.
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The oversight board, with a team of outside experts, was set up by Facebook to handle appeals of company decisions. The board’s decisions are binding.
Within six months, the oversight board wants the company to review their action and “to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform.”
The board also made recommendations to develop “clear, necessary, and proportionate policies that promote public safety and respect freedom of expression.”
The decision is here.
The verdict from the private Facebook “supreme court,” as it has been dubbed, has tremendous implications for how the company and other social media platforms handle incendiary posts of world leaders in the future, as they have drawn criticism from the left for not doing enough to curb the spread of disinformation from high profile figures, and attacks from the right that their voices are being censored.
Cable news networks briefly covered the decision, with Fox News featuring Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and the chyron, “Facebook Oversight Board Bans Trump For Life.”
But that is not what the board decided.
Trump was suspended indefinitely following the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol, as Facebook cited two posts in which he offered praise for those engaged in the insurrection. Other social media platforms followed in restricting Trump’s accounts, including Twitter, which banned him outright. Executives from that company have indicated they are not considering reinstating Trump’s account.
In the wake of the attack on the Capitol, Facebook initially suspended Trump, but later made the ban indefinite. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the then-president had used the platform to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
Facebook referred its decision to the oversight board on Jan. 21, but kept Trump’s suspension in place in the meantime.
“We have taken the view that in open democracies people have a right to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can be held to account,” Facebook’s Nick Clegg wrote at the time. “But it has never meant that politicians can say whatever they like. They remain subject to our policies banning the use of our platform to incite violence. It is these policies that were enforced when we took the decision to suspend President Trump’s access.”
In its decision, the Oversight Board said that Trump’s Jan. 6 posts “severely violated Facebook’s Community Standards and Instagram’s Community Guidelines.” Specifically, they cited the then-president’s message to those engaged in the siege, in which he wrote, “We love you. You’re very special,” and another in which he referred to them as “great patriots” and told them to “remember this day forever.” Facebook’s rules prohibit praise or support of people engaged in violence.
“Given the seriousness of the violations and the ongoing risk of violence, Facebook was justified in suspending Mr. Trump’s accounts on January 6 and extending that suspension on January 7,” the Oversight Board said.
“However, it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose an ‘indefinite’ suspension.”
They said that Facebook did not follow a “clear, published procedure” for imposing an indefinite suspension, which are not described in the company’s policies.
“In applying a vague, standardless penalty and then referring this case to the Board to resolve, Facebook seeks to avoid its responsibilities,” the oversight board wrote. “The Board declines Facebook’s request and insists that Facebook apply and justify a defined penalty.”
Frozen out of social media giants, Trump’s office on Tuesday unveiled what was described as a new platform for him to communicate with his followers. But the site was merely a webpage set up so users could easily tweet out or post statements to their own accounts, a function common across the internet.
The Oversight Board was set up by the company to act as a neutral third party on content moderation decisions. It includes experts on technology, legal affairs, free speech, journalism and digital rights, many from academia and foundation. One recent addition was Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America. A five-member panel is selected to review cases and render a decision, but a majority of the entire board has to sign off for a decision to be published.
Trump has continued to claim, without evidence, that the election was rigged. His office put out a tweet-like statement on Monday in which he said, “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
