Donald Trump lashes out at tech giants as Facebook board upholds ban
- The former US president called the actions of Facebook, Twitter and Google a ‘total disgrace’ to the country
- The oversight panel said, however, that Facebook was wrong to make the suspension indefinite suspension, calling for a review of the decision within six months
Facebook‘s oversight board on Wednesday upheld the company’s suspension of former US president Donald Trump but said the company was wrong to make the suspension indefinite and gave it six months to determine a “proportionate response”.
Trump called the decision and his banning across tech platforms “a total disgrace” and said the companies would “pay a political price”.
The board‘s much-awaited verdict has been watched for signals on how the world’s largest social media company will treat rule-breaking political leaders in the future, a key area of controversy for online platforms.
The board, created by Facebook to rule on a small slice of its content decisions, said the company was right to ban Trump following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by pro-Trump supporters.
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But it said Facebook inappropriately imposed a suspension without clear standards and that the company should determine a response consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform. It said the company could determine that Trump‘s account could be restored, suspended temporarily or permanently banned.