Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Summary:

• The ban of former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts as decided through an independent oversight board was moved to a continued suspension to be upheld for a conclusive time frame expected to be released in the coming weeks. 
• The suspension was first put in place following the January 2020 insurrection on the United States Capitol, as Facebook found that Trump had “severely violated” the community standards after calling the rioters who breached the capital “great patriots,” calling it a day to remember “forever.” 
• Although the decision was upheld by the board, it found that an indefinite suspension in response wasn’t  “clear” with a “published procedure,” urging Facebook to “apply and justify a defined penalty” instead of avoiding personal responsibilities and policies. 
• The board also said that Facebook should “address widespread confusion about how decisions relating to influential users are made,” stating a list of recommendations including reviews on Facebook’s own part in electoral fraud which contributed to the January insurrection, contributing to deescalating potential future risks from equally influential users, and more. 
• In a blog post, representative Nick Chegg, VP of Global Affairs and Communications, stated Facebook’s strong beliefs upholding their decisions as “necessary and right” and further declared their plans to determine “an action that is clear and proportionate” in fixing the “open ended nature of the suspension” while the accounts remain banned. 
• A group of academics deemed The Real Facebook Oversight Board who formed together after the creation of Facebook’s current Oversight Board slammed the decision as being a “PR Stunt,” stating Trump’s actions should obviously lead to a ban from the website forever. Mark Zukerburg, CEO of Facebook, has also been met with heavy criticism for leaving the decision up to the Oversight Board. 
• In response, Former President, Donald Trump stated his free speech rights had been violated, and the decision was “a total disgrace and an embarrassment to the country… These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”
• Facebook remains as one of the social media websites undetermined in deciding how long the ban should last, unlike other sites such as Twitter, who have permanently suspended Trump’s accounts after the incidents early last year. 

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Sources

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/facebook-will-keep-trump-ban-in-place.html

https://about.fb.com/news/2021/05/facebook-oversight-board-decision-trump/amp/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/5/read-the-facebook-review-boards-trump-ban-recommendations

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/551804-facebook-to-continue-trumps-account-ban

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