Facebook’s independent oversight board has decided on Donald Trump’s suspension from the company’s platforms and will reveal his fate later this week.
In a brief statement this morning, the board said it would announce its decision at about 9 is EDT on Wednesday, May 5. That’s 11 pm on Wednesday night AEST.
The former U.S. president has been barred from publishing on both Facebook and Instagram since January 7, the day after his supporters attacked the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. in an attempt to stop President Joe Biden’s election win from being certified.
At the time, Facebook concluded Mr. Trump had used its platforms to spread misinformation and incite violence against the U.S. government.
Initially, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the ban would last until the end of Mr. Trump’s term on January 20. “The shocking events of the last 24 hours demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.
“Over the last several years, we had allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violated our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial addresses.
“But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving the use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
Later in January, the ban became indefinite, pending a ruling from the oversight board, an independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing Facebook’s more contentious content moderation decisions.
