American Ex-President Donald Trump is Not Allowed to Return to Facebook

An independent supervisory board from the company Facebook upholds an earlier decision to ban US ex-president Donald Trump from the platform. Facebook will have to rethink the situation within six months.

 

Twitter, much more widely used by Trump, may also maintain that measure. Both companies had banned Trump from their platforms following his supporters’ violence against the US parliament at the beginning of this year.

Four months ago, social media such as Facebook and Twitter had thrown the former president off their platforms. That was in response to Trump’s stance during his supporters’ violent occupation of the Capitol, Washington’s parliament building, on Jan. 6. Six people were killed in those riots. Trump was then accused of using social media to incite violence and undermine the usual transfer of power to Joe Biden.

Today, a partially independent Facebook supervisory board has decided to uphold Trump’s ban for the time being. On the other hand, the board speaks of “an arbitrary decision of the company”. Facebook should decide on this sanction within six months, based on the seriousness of the violations and damage that could still be done in the future.

However, the council also criticizes Facebook itself for having deleted Trump permanently and without clear procedures. “Facebook has tried to avoid its responsibility by first taking a vague decision without many procedures and then referring it to the board,” the supervisory board said.

That decision is not very important because Trump mainly used Twitter to send his opinions and plans to the world.

Meanwhile, the White House has responded to the decision of Facebook’s independent supervisory board. US President Joe Biden believes that important social media platforms have a responsibility to stop the spread of false information, it was said.

Perhaps the former president already felt the storm, because yesterday Trump opened his communication channel on the internet. He spoke of “a beacon of freedom” and “a place to speak freely and safely.”