Many people are attempting to get former president, Donald Trump, banned for the social media platform, Facebook. The talk of an ‘indefinite ban’ comes after the Facebook higher-ups believed that Trump’s posts during the January 6 riots at the Capitol, incited unnecessarily violence, rather than encouraging people to retreat.
Decisions Made Open To The Public
When a decision this serious is to be made, it is sent over to a group called ‘Facebook Oversight Board,’ made up of only 20 people that weigh the severity of the issue at hand. Â In an unexpected twist, the Facebook Oversight Board welcomed the public to have a say on the decision to whether they should indefinitely ban Donald Trump from the platform or not.
The comments flooded and over 9,000 comments both in support of Trump ban, and those opposing the possible decision. Following the open comment section the oversight board tweeted out this morning, writing out, “The Board will announce its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump’s indefinite suspension from Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks. We extended the public comments deadline for this case, receiving 9,000+ responses.”
(1/2): The Board will announce its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump's indefinite suspension from Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks. We extended the public comments deadline for this case, receiving 9,000+ responses.
— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) April 16, 2021
“The Board’s commitment to carefully reviewing all comments has extended the case timeline, in line with the Board’s bylaws. We will share more information soon.”
(2/2): The Board’s commitment to carefully reviewing all comments has extended the case timeline, in line with the Board’s bylaws. We will share more information soon.
— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) April 16, 2021
Unfortunately, the comments are not open for other viewers to see, so it impossible to say which side the public leans on.
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Trump’s Ties With FacebookÂ
As most of you may remember, Facebook was under major fire for possible interference with the 2016 election, which was assumed to have helped Trump win. Cambridge Analytica was responsible for gathering information through Facebook users’ profiles and browsing history to understand how best to sell them products including politically bias information. This even led to Mark Zuckerberg attending court.
With this in mind, it is difficult to trust that the platform will make a proper decision with an unbiased lens, which is why they have decided to use the third party oversight board.
