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Former President Donald Trump's United States of America

Facebook Oversight Board Upholds Social Network’s Ban of Trump​

A company-appointed panel ruled that the ban was justified at the time but added that the company should reassess its action and make a final decision in six months.

From link.

A Facebook-appointed panel of journalists, activists and lawyers on Wednesday upheld the social network’s ban of former President Donald J. Trump, ending any immediate return by Mr. Trump to mainstream social media and renewing a debate about tech power over online speech.

Facebook’s Oversight Board, which acts as a quasi-court over the company’s content decisions, said the social network was right to bar Mr. Trump after he used the site to foment an insurrection in Washington in January. The panel said the ongoing risk of violence “justified” the move.

But the board also said that an indefinite suspension was “not appropriate,” and that the company should apply a “defined penalty.” The board gave Facebook six months to make its final decision on Mr. Trump’s account status.

“Our sole job is to hold this extremely powerful organization, Facebook, to be held accountable,” Michael McConnell, co-chair of the Oversight Board, said on a call with reporters. The ban on Mr. Trump “did not meet these standards,” he said.

The decision adds difficulties to Mr. Trump rejoining mainstream social media, which he had used during his White House years to cajole, set policy, criticize opponents and rile up his tens of millions of followers. Twitter and YouTube had also cut off Mr. Trump in January after the insurrection at the Capitol building, saying the risk of harm and the potential for violence that he created were too great.
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But while Mr. Trump’s Facebook account remains suspended for now, he may be able to return to the social network once the company reviews its action. Mr. Trump still holds tremendous sway over Republicans, with his false claims of a stolen election continuing to reverberate. On Wednesday, House Republican leaders moved to expel Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her leadership post for criticizing Mr. Trump and his election lies.

In a statement, Mr. Trump did not directly address the Oversight Board’s ruling. But he slammed Facebook, Google and Twitter and called them corrupt. “Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s continued Facebook suspension gave Republicans, who have long accused social media companies of suppressing conservative voices, new fuel against the platforms. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has testified in Congress several times in recent years about whether the social network has shown bias against conservative political views. He has denied it.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, said the Facebook board’s decision was “extremely disappointing” and that it was “clear that Mark Zuckerberg views himself as the arbiter of free speech.” And Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said Facebook, which faces antitrust scrutiny, should be broken up.
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Democrats were also unhappy. Frank Pallone, the chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, tweeted, “Donald Trump has played a big role in helping Facebook spread disinformation, but whether he’s on the platform or not, Facebook and other social media platforms with the same business model will find ways to highlight divisive content to drive advertising revenues.”

The decision underlined the power of tech companies in determining who gets to say what online. While Mr. Zuckerberg has said that he does not wish his company to be “the arbiter of truth” in social discourse, Facebook has become increasingly active about the kinds of content it allows. To prevent the spread of misinformation, the company has cracked down on QAnon conspiracy theory groups, election falsehoods and anti-vaccination content in recent months, before culminating in the blocking of Mr. Trump in January.

“This case has dramatic implications for the future of speech online because the public and other platforms are looking at how the oversight board will handle what is a difficult controversy that will arise again around the world,” said Nate Persily, a professor at Stanford University’s law school.

He added, “President Trump has pushed the envelope about what is permissible speech on these platforms and he has set the outer limits such that if you are unwilling to go after him, you are allowing a large amount of incitement and hate speech and disinformation online that others are going to propagate.”

In a statement, Facebook said it was “pleased” that the board recognized that its barring of Mr. Trump in January was justified. The company added that it would consider the ruling and “determine an action that is clear and proportionate.”
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Mr. Trump’s case is the most prominent that the Facebook Oversight Board, which was conceived in 2018, has handled. The board, which is made up of 20 journalists, activists and former politicians, reviews and adjudicates the company’s most contested content moderation decisions. Mr. Zuckerberg has repeatedly referred to it as the “Facebook Supreme Court.”

But while the panel is positioned as independent, it was founded and funded by Facebook and has no legal or enforcement authority. Critics have been skeptical of the board’s autonomy and have said it gives Facebook the ability to punt on difficult decisions.

Each of its cases is decided by a five-person panel selected from among the board’s 20 members, one of whom must be from the country in which the case originated. The panel reviews the comments on the case and makes recommendations to the full board, which decides through a majority vote. After a ruling, Facebook has seven days to act on the board’s decision...
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And of course, the fact that it's a matter-of-fact Trump supporter that just happens to be an equally matter-of-fact *spousal murderer* tells you plenty about the sorts who are drawn to Trump. It's like even before he started doling out pardons like candy to cronies, these people saw Trump as "Mr. Pardon". The President who'd delete the "inconvenient" records of the loyal and faithful. And why, you can even do something awful *now*, and Trump would step up to the plate and pardon you--or at least, he'd be likelier to do so than virtually any other President...
 
adma said:
And of course, the fact that it's a matter-of-fact Trump supporter that just happens to be an equally matter-of-fact *spousal murderer* tells you plenty about the sorts who are drawn to Trump. It's like even before he started doling out pardons like candy to cronies, these people saw Trump as "Mr. Pardon". The President who'd delete the "inconvenient" records of the loyal and faithful. And why, you can even do something awful *now*, and Trump would step up to the plate and pardon you--or at least, he'd be likelier to do so than virtually any other President...
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When I was a kid a popular saying was " it takes one to know one ". That might explain some of the attraction to Trump, but it certainly doesn't explain the broader support he still has from ersatz Republicans. Allegiance to the Party and it's spotty adherence to conservative values allows a dimwit charlaton like Trump to suck the oxygen out of any room he occupies . Party first is the simple credo .
 
It could well be that in the underlying dysfunction of today's America, there's an all-too-significant number of damaged people with spotty records. Almost like the inverse version of Soviet states in the 80s being effectively run on a black-market basis--except there, it was what the smart people did; whereas here, it's more the predestiny of mass stupidity. And often, stupidity in the guise of "smarts", much like Trump's priding himself on avoiding paying taxes...
 
Reliable fact-checking website Snopes confirmed the existence of UFOs:

www.snopes.com

Did Pentagon Confirm Leaked Pics of UFOs? | Snopes.com

The Pentagon has gone on the record to confirm triangular objects over a Navy destroyer were filmed by U.S. military personnel.
www.snopes.com www.snopes.com

This confirmation however does not prove the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial lifeforms.
 
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