Facebook Inc. was justified in banning then-President Donald Trump, the company’s independent oversight board ruled Wednesday, but in coming months must decide whether the former president is permanently locked out of the platform.
The Wall Street Journal reports the decision, which is binding, largely ratifies a choice personally approved by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in the wake of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot and could have far-reaching implications for how technology companies police political speech.
It prevents Trump from regaining the social-media megaphone that he wielded for years and that he has lacked since the industry’s major players banned him from posting on their platforms earlier this year, alleging he helped incite the violence at the Capitol. The move also hampers one of his most effective fundraising tools.
While Trump isn’t known to be an avid Facebook user personally, as he was with Twitter, his staff regularly cross-posted his tweets there and used it to reach his more than 35 million followers on the platform.
The Facebook decision was made by five members of the current 20-person Oversight Board, then ratified by a majority of the full board. The identities of the five individuals involved in the decision won’t be revealed.
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