May 5, 2021

The oversight board said Facebook should reevaluate in six months from now. Via the Washington Post:

Facebook’s Oversight Board on Wednesday upheld the social network’s decision to ban former president Trump four months after Capitol riot, but also gave Facebook six months to review the decision.

Facebook banned Trump indefinitely following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, citing posts that it said encouraged violence. The binding ruling by the 20-member Oversight Board, which is largely independent and funded by the social network, could set the stage for a new political era online, reshaping the way speech by public officials and other powerful people is moderated by social media companies.

[...] Critics have argued that Facebook should have banned Trump at different points throughout his presidency, saying that his inflammatory language and frequent promotion of misinformation — about the coronavirus in particular — constituted an abuse of his office and of Facebook’s own community standards. But chief executive Mark Zuckerberg felt strongly that politicians should be given wide latitude because their speech was in the public interest.

Go read the whole thing.

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