^^^
I am surprised! I had watched several news programs last night and they all surmised that it looked like his ban would be lifted, as long as some restrictions were adhered to.
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I just read that linked article and it seems like the board punted the decision back to Facebook.
"In applying a vague, standardless penalty and then referring this case to the Board to resolve, Facebook seeks to avoid its responsibilities," the decision said.
So, they threw it back to Facebook saying they need to: "Reexamine the arbitrary penalty it imposed on January 7 and decide the appropriate penalty," the board wrote in its decision. "This penalty must be based on the gravity of the violation and the prospect of future harm. It must also be consistent with Facebook's rules for severe violations, which must, in turn, be clear, necessary and proportionate."
The announcement from the board was likely a disappointment to Facebook, which had seemingly hoped that it could wash its hands clean of difficult decisions and deflect them to the Oversight Board.
Then the oversight board responded to the notion it had punted it back to Facebook: Oversight Board co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt pushed back against the characterization that the board had simply avoided making the tough call and deflected responsibly for the decision back to Facebook. "I don't think we are just passing the buck here," Thorning-Schmidt said, explaining that the board did make a decision to uphold the initial suspension, but believed that an indefinite suspension was not in accordance with Facebook's own rules.
"They can't just invent new, unwritten rules when it suits them," Thorning-Schmidt added. "They have to have a transparent way of doing this."
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Um, yes...they can invent new unwritten rules when it suits them. It's their company. They can do whatever they want. They invented the board in the first place.
Facebook doesn't want Government Oversight, but they don't want to oversee and fix the bad things Facebook lets happen, either. They also have a lot of arbitrary rules.
Of course, the former defeated President put out a statement, describing the decision as a "total disgrace" and "embarrassment."
And, as usual, he's really just talking about himself.
Last night I was listening to the arguments about this and many people, including other world leaders like Angela Merkel and Putin's political nemesis Alexei Navalny, have the idea that banning him from Facebook is a bad thing; a censorship issue. In the case of Trump, though, do you just let him spout his lies and foment his minions? You know he'd go right back on any of these platforms and lie about the election and disregard any restrictions he was supposed to adhere to. It's not like his views are within any bounds of political disagreement. It's all lies.
