Facebook’s Oversight Board postponed their verdict on whether former US President of the United States, Donald Trump can access his Facebook and Instagram once again. Trump was indefinitely banned from social media sites in January.

The Oversight Board Tweeted that, “The Board will declare its judgment on the case related to the former US President Trump’s uncertain stoppage from Facebook and Instagram in the subsequent weeks. We prolonged the public comments time limit for this case, sustaining more than 9,000+ comments”. It was also mentioned that the decision was postponed because the board desires to thoroughly examine all the comments and replies.

Reason Behind Donald Trump’s Social Media Ban?

A day right after Trump's angry and armed protestors stormed Capitol Hill in Washington DC, Facebook banned Trump from its every platform, which terminated on January 20. Twitter had attended suit but raised the discontinuing a couple of days after the siege.

According to a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the tech giant Facebook, announced on January 7 that “we understand the uncertainties of permitting the president to proceed to practice our service through this period are simply extremely great. Hence, we are enlarging the block we should place on his Facebook and Instagram platforms indefinitely…”

Banning Trump’s access to social media reignited the discussion on the influence that tech companies have in censoring the post. A report in The Financial Times stated that while Trump’s detractors have praised his “de-platforming” as it was long overdue, “others worry that the progress confirms how much political pressure has been done to built up by a handful of individual companies.”

The Facebook’s Oversight Board!

The Oversight Board was intended in 2018 principally to determine “what to take down, what to leave up – and why”. A different thing from Facebook, its leading members were declared in May 2020 and combine academicians and specialists from various areas such as law, digital titles, and technology. The purpose of the body is to “support free interpretation by making principled, confident choices regarding content on Facebook and Instagram”.

The board addresses judgments on the kind of content that should be approved or withdrawn from Facebook and Instagram “situated on respect for freedom of expression & social rights.”

How does it work?

The board was set the previous year and provides users the capability to request to the board, providing them a fortune to examine content choices on Facebook and Instagram. For example, if a user has demanded a report of any content choice, and is unfortunate with either Facebook or Instagram’s final stance, he or she can address a request to the board.

However, this does not signify that the board will manage all applications, and will decide claims based on how important and challenging they are, and if they are globally consistent and have the potential to notify future policy.

The board proclaimed the leading cases it would consider on. Of 20,000 cases that were transferred to the board, it decided only six because of their potential to change users throughout the world, and as they advanced inquiries about Facebook’s plans.

One of the cases concerns a user in the US who reshared a memory post that discussed an alleged quote of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, on the necessity to review sensations and abilities, rather than judgment, and on the worthlessness of fact. Facebook eliminated this post since it disrupted its policy on “dangerous people and groups”. In an application to the board, the user said the quote was essential since the user estimated Trump’s presidency to be supporting an absolute model.

READ MORE: Trump's Ban To Be Extended More by Facebook Oversight Board