Former US President Donald Trump remains blocked from the world’s largest Internet network, Facebook. After months of examination, the independent supervisory body of the US group decided on Wednesday that the Republicans would be denied access for an indefinite period of time. The move is likely to cause a stir around the world because it is an indication of how Facebook will deal with heads of state and government such as Iran’s highest political and religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro.
Facebook’s independent board of directors instructed the online network to re-examine the case within six months. It found that blocking the then head of state “until further notice” was not an appropriate step. Facebook should put the facts to the test again – and determine an appropriate penalty, in accordance with the rules that also apply to other users of the platform. In the online network, the deletion of individual content, temporary blocking or permanent ban are planned as punitive measures.
Trump’s member accounts were blocked from Facebook as well as Twitter and Snapchat in January after Trump supporters stormed the Washington DC Capitol. At the time, the reactions ranged from allegations of censorship to requests to intervene even more in the future. The 20-person committee also gave Facebook homework and demanded more transparency and clarity in future decisions.
The group of experts, which includes the former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt as well as ex-Guardian-Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger was created in response to criticism of the company’s handling of hate speech and misinformation. Since it started in October 2020, more than 300,000 cases have been submitted to the panel, of which it only addresses those of greater relevance.
The short message service Twitter has already emphasized that Trump has no direct route back to the platform. Google’s video platform Youtube, on the other hand, wants to unblock its profile when “the risk of violence has decreased”. After being banned from online services, Trump has been reliant on sending statements by email in recent months. Before that, the Twitter account was by far his most important communication channel with more than 80 million subscribers.