For immediate release: May 5, 2021
Contact: press@kairosfellows.org
On Wednesday, May 5, the Facebook Oversight Board upheld its decision to ban former president Donald J. Trump dealing a blow to the former president who wielded social media as a weapon to galvanize and agitate his base. A sharp increase in misinformation and white supremacist violence accompanied Trump’s rise to power. After the January 6th insurrection, Facebook along with other social media giants, banned the then president’s pages and all content “in Trump’s voice” from its platform.
Facebook’s Oversight Board ruled to uphold the temporary ban, but stated that Facebook does not have the power to permanently ban a user from its platform and the company should review its policy in 6 months.
“How much longer will we have to wait and watch Facebook sit on the fence?” said Jelani Drew, Campaign Manager, Kairos Action. “It’s good to see the Oversight Board recognize that people in power need to be held to a higher standard and not behind Facebook’s "newsworthiness" exemptions. But overall this is not a proportionate response to what Trump has done so far. Facebook and the Oversight Board need to stop passing the decision making baton back and forth and take a definitive position. The truth is Facebook's algorithm and profit incentives are driving and supporting white supremacists being on their platform. Facebook needs to take a moral stance regardless of the bottom line — unless Facebook is going to hold a white supremacist rehab, there is a need for policies aimed at indefinite suspension of white supremacist people and accounts.”
Despite a peaceful transition of presidential power, the threat of violence and misinformation that Trump instigates persists on Facebook.