Facebook s Trump ban upheld by Oversight Board
Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, US February 28, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Reuters, United States
Reuters, United States
Facebook Inc s (FB.O) oversight board on Wednesday upheld the company s suspension of former US President Donald Trump but gave the company six months to determine a proportionate response going forward, a verdict that may chart how social media will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.
The company inappropriately imposed an indeterminate suspension without clear standards, the board said, requiring a company review.
The Board said Facebook should determine a response that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.
Former US President Donald Trump. Leah Millis/Reuters
Facebook’s oversight board on Wednesday upheld the company’s suspension of former US President Donald Trump in a much-awaited verdict that may signal how the company will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.
Facebook indefinitely blocked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts over concerns of further violent unrest following the 6 January storming of the US Capitol by supporters of the former president.
At the time of the suspension, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post that “the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great”. The company later referred the case to its recently established board, which includes academics, lawyers and rights activists, to decide whether to uphold the ban or restore Trump.
Populism and Conspiracy Theories of the Left and Right in US Politics
Series Description: Conspiracy theories – from 9/11 Truth to QAnon, from Sandy Hook “False Flag Ops” theories to “Plandemic” – are embedded in contemporary American politics. On first glance, it seems that many of these political conspiracy theories have come from the right side of the ideological spectrum, but conspiracy thinking isn’t about liberal or conservative; it’s about populism. This course will examine the individual, cultural, and environmental causes of conspiracy theory belief, and the threat that widespread belief in conspiracy theories presents to democracy in the United States and the world.
To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy.
By clicking on the Accept & Close button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal.
You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.
Accept & Close
Sputnik International