Facebook Inc.’s internal rules for banning content are a “shambles,” and the company needs to fix the process to have credibility in enforcing them, a member of the social media giant’s independent content oversight board said.
Bloomberg reports the comments by Michael McConnell, the panel’s co-chairman, follow its decision last week to leave in place a ban on former President Donald Trump for his posts surrounding the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6.
“Their rules are a shambles,” McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday.” “They are not transparent. They are unclear. They are internally inconsistent.”
“We gave them a series of recommendations about how to make their rules clearer and more consistent,” McConnell said. “The hope is that they will use the next few months to do that and then, when they come back and look at this, they will be able to apply those rules in a straightforward way.”
Facebook's rules are 'in shambles, unclear,' says oversight board co-chair https://t.co/UGbCAa62hY
— Tom Benson (@Tombenson1) May 10, 2021
Facebook upheld its ban on Trump for six months. The company suspended his account after Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol in what became a deadly attempt to stop the counting of Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden. The ban was originally temporary, but was changed to an indefinite suspension the following day.
McConnell also said Trump’s posts were a “plain violation of Facebook’s rules” against praising dangerous individuals and organizations during a time of violence.
During the Jan. 6 riot, Trump “issued these statements which were just egging on -- with perfunctory asking for peace, but mostly, he was just egging them on to continue,” McConnell said.
McConnell, a constitutional law professor at Stanford University and former federal judge, dismissed concerns that Facebook was violating Trump’s First Amendment rights by leaving the ban in place, saying the social media giant is a private company.
“He’s a customer,” McConnell said. “Facebook is not a government and he is not a citizen of Facebook.”
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