Facebook Oversight Board’s Trump Decision Is Just the Beginning
Facebook still has a lot of explaining to do
Former President Donald Trump is, as of this moment, still banned from Facebook, but before you cheer or deride the decision, know this: The Reckoning is just beginning.
The Oversight Board agreed with Facebook’s initial actions: kicking Trump off its platforms (Facebook and Instagram) as the Capitol riots unfolded and then extended it indefinitely the next day. However, the board, which operates independently of Facebook, also called out the social media giant for seeking to avoid its responsibilities. Facebook tried punting on the long-term decision to permanently ban the ex-president.
Now, however, the ball is back in Facebook’s court. Will it decide to, as Twitter did on January 8, permanently ban Trump’s widely followed Twitter account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”? Or will it lift its ban when, as YouTube plans, the risk of violence decreases?
The problem, as the Oversight Board noted, is that Facebook has not worked out how to properly delineate between what it deems “newsworthy posts” and posts from people with outsized influence. As president, Trump checked both boxes but his position appears to have clouded Facebook’s initial judgment on the potential…
