Facebook board's Trump decision could have wider impacts
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
44 mins ago
Since the day after the deadly Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump's social media accounts have been silent — muzzled for inciting violence using the platforms as online megaphones.
On Wednesday, his fate on Facebook, the biggest social platform around, will be decided. The company's quasi-independent Oversight Board will announce its ruling around 9 a.m. ET. If it rules in Trump's favor, Facebook has seven days to reinstate the account. If the board upholds Facebook's decision, Trump will remain “indefinitely” suspended.
Politicians, free speech experts and activists around the world are watching the decision closely. It has implications not only for Trump but for tech companies, world leaders and people across the political spectrum — many of whom have wildly conflicting views of the proper role for technology companies when it comes to regulating online speech and protecting people from abuse and misinformation.
After years of handling Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric with a light touch, Facebook and Instagram took the drastic step of silencing his accounts in January. In announcing the unprecedented move, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the risk of allowing Trump to continue using the platform was too great.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 7.
A day before the announcement, Trump unveiled a new blog on his personal website, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” While the page includes a dramatic video claiming, “A BEACON OF FREEDOM ARISES” and hailing “A PLACE TO SPEAK FREELY AND SAFELY,” the page is little more than a display of Trump’s recent statements — available elsewhere on the website — that can be easily shared on Facebook and Twitter, the platforms that banished him after the riot.
While Trump aides have spent months teasing his plans to launch his own social media platform, his spokesman Jason Miller said the blog was something separate.
“President Trump’s website is a great resource to find his latest statements and highlights from his first term in office, but this is not a new social media platform,” he tweeted. “We’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future.”
Barred from social media, Trump has embraced other platforms for getting his message out. He does frequent interviews with friendly news outlets and has emailed a flurry of statements to reporters through his official office and political group.
Trump has even said he prefers the statements to his old tweets, often describing them as more “elegant.”
Facebook created the oversight panel to rule on thorny content on its platforms following widespread criticism of its difficulty responding swiftly and effectively to misinformation, hate speech and nefarious influence campaigns. Its decisions so far — all nine of them — have tended to favor free expression over the restriction of content.
In its first rulings, the panel overturned four out of five decisions by the social network to take down questionable material. It ordered Facebook to restore posts by users that the company said broke standards on adult nudity, hate speech, or dangerous individuals.
Critics of Facebook, however, worry that the Oversight Board is a mere distraction from the company's deeper problems — ones that can't be addressed in a handful of high-profile cases by a semi-independent body of experts.
“Facebook set the rules, are judge, jury and executioner and control their own appeals court and their own Supreme Court. The decisions they make have an impact on our democracies, national security and biosecurity and cannot be left to their own in house theatre of the absurd,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit critical of Facebook. “Whatever the judgement tomorrow, this whole fiasco shows why we need democratic regulation of Big Tech."
Gautam Hans, a technology law and free speech expert and professor at Vanderbilt University, said he finds the Oversight Board structure to be “frustrating and a bit of a sideshow from the larger policy and social questions that we have about these companies."
“To some degree, Facebook is trying to create an accountability mechanism that I think undermines efforts to have government regulation and legislation,” Hans said. “If any other company decided, well, we’re just going to outsource our decision-making to some quasi-independent body, that would be thought of as ridiculous.”
__
Associated Press Writer Jill Colvin contributed to this story.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
yeah, i'm more on instagram than any other one. it's the least divisive of all of them. except when a public figure posts a pic of themselves getting vaccinated.
"Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk" -EV 8/14/93
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
I listen to the Pardon My Take podcast during football season, but there's really not much to their Instagram that interests me (I followed for a bit but then unfollowed). Portnoy's alright though. Even though he's a bit of "bro" caricature, I do respect that Barstool fund he started to raise money for small businesses affected by the pandemic.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
I listen to the Pardon My Take podcast during football season, but there's really not much to their Instagram that interests me (I followed for a bit but then unfollowed). Portnoy's alright though. Even though he's a bit of "bro" caricature, I do respect that Barstool fund he started to raise money for small businesses affected by the pandemic.
$39,000,000 and counting... We donated and will again. My wife really started liking him during the pandemic with some of the Unboxing's that he did. She followed the instagram but dropped it too. It was not for her. Pretty sure I have seen every pizza review he has done. Portnoy is a legend.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
I listen to the Pardon My Take podcast during football season, but there's really not much to their Instagram that interests me (I followed for a bit but then unfollowed). Portnoy's alright though. Even though he's a bit of "bro" caricature, I do respect that Barstool fund he started to raise money for small businesses affected by the pandemic.
$39,000,000 and counting... We donated and will again. My wife really started liking him during the pandemic with some of the Unboxing's that he did. She followed the instagram but dropped it too. It was not for her. Pretty sure I have seen every pizza review he has done. Portnoy is a legend.
He actually did some pizza reviews near my hometown in Northeast PA, which was surprising and pretty cool. I used to go those places as a teenager. One of my friends met him during one of those reviews and said he was nice.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
Agreed....he's kind of a tRumpster but I like him
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
I listen to the Pardon My Take podcast during football season, but there's really not much to their Instagram that interests me (I followed for a bit but then unfollowed). Portnoy's alright though. Even though he's a bit of "bro" caricature, I do respect that Barstool fund he started to raise money for small businesses affected by the pandemic.
$39,000,000 and counting... We donated and will again. My wife really started liking him during the pandemic with some of the Unboxing's that he did. She followed the instagram but dropped it too. It was not for her. Pretty sure I have seen every pizza review he has done. Portnoy is a legend.
He actually did some pizza reviews near my hometown in Northeast PA, which was surprising and pretty cool. I used to go those places as a teenager. One of my friends met him during one of those reviews and said he was nice.
Old Forge? Those were some good reviews.
I also had a friend meet him at a Nascar race a year or two ago and said the same. Said he was a bit awkward which you can tell by watching him, but said he was as nice as could be.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
If you are not following Barstool Sports then you are missing out my friend!
I listen to the Pardon My Take podcast during football season, but there's really not much to their Instagram that interests me (I followed for a bit but then unfollowed). Portnoy's alright though. Even though he's a bit of "bro" caricature, I do respect that Barstool fund he started to raise money for small businesses affected by the pandemic.
$39,000,000 and counting... We donated and will again. My wife really started liking him during the pandemic with some of the Unboxing's that he did. She followed the instagram but dropped it too. It was not for her. Pretty sure I have seen every pizza review he has done. Portnoy is a legend.
He actually did some pizza reviews near my hometown in Northeast PA, which was surprising and pretty cool. I used to go those places as a teenager. One of my friends met him during one of those reviews and said he was nice.
Old Forge? Those were some good reviews.
I also had a friend meet him at a Nascar race a year or two ago and said the same. Said he was a bit awkward which you can tell by watching him, but said he was as nice as could be.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
I have found nothing on IG that makes me want to use it...
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
I have found nothing on IG that makes me want to use it...
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
I have found nothing on IG that makes me want to use it...
Do you use Twitter or Facebook?
I follow on Twitter and IG but just regularly use Twitter. Use FB too.
All 3 I think are cesspools. Everything that is on IG gets posted to twitter and FB anyway.
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
I have found nothing on IG that makes me want to use it...
Do you use Twitter or Facebook?
I follow on Twitter and IG but just regularly use Twitter. Use FB too.
All 3 I think are cesspools. Everything that is on IG gets posted to twitter and FB anyway.
I think all three are you make of it. They can be cesspools if you let them, or they can just be fun pictures/videos. My feeds on all three are mainly sports and entertainment. The only time I tread into the cesspool is if I click the "trending" tab on Twitter. I can't imagine actually following some of the people I see pop up replying to trends.
Here's a screenshot of the top post on all three of my feeds. Just to demonstrate that social media, like the internet in general, and the world as a whole, doesn't have to be the miserable cesspool if you don't want it to be.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
-EV 8/14/93
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
Since the day after the deadly Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump's social media accounts have been silent — muzzled for inciting violence using the platforms as online megaphones.
On Wednesday, his fate on Facebook, the biggest social platform around, will be decided. The company's quasi-independent Oversight Board will announce its ruling around 9 a.m. ET. If it rules in Trump's favor, Facebook has seven days to reinstate the account. If the board upholds Facebook's decision, Trump will remain “indefinitely” suspended.
Politicians, free speech experts and activists around the world are watching the decision closely. It has implications not only for Trump but for tech companies, world leaders and people across the political spectrum — many of whom have wildly conflicting views of the proper role for technology companies when it comes to regulating online speech and protecting people from abuse and misinformation.
After years of handling Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric with a light touch, Facebook and Instagram took the drastic step of silencing his accounts in January. In announcing the unprecedented move, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the risk of allowing Trump to continue using the platform was too great.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 7.
A day before the announcement, Trump unveiled a new blog on his personal website, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” While the page includes a dramatic video claiming, “A BEACON OF FREEDOM ARISES” and hailing “A PLACE TO SPEAK FREELY AND SAFELY,” the page is little more than a display of Trump’s recent statements — available elsewhere on the website — that can be easily shared on Facebook and Twitter, the platforms that banished him after the riot.
While Trump aides have spent months teasing his plans to launch his own social media platform, his spokesman Jason Miller said the blog was something separate.
“President Trump’s website is a great resource to find his latest statements and highlights from his first term in office, but this is not a new social media platform,” he tweeted. “We’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future.”
Barred from social media, Trump has embraced other platforms for getting his message out. He does frequent interviews with friendly news outlets and has emailed a flurry of statements to reporters through his official office and political group.
Trump has even said he prefers the statements to his old tweets, often describing them as more “elegant.”
Facebook created the oversight panel to rule on thorny content on its platforms following widespread criticism of its difficulty responding swiftly and effectively to misinformation, hate speech and nefarious influence campaigns. Its decisions so far — all nine of them — have tended to favor free expression over the restriction of content.
In its first rulings, the panel overturned four out of five decisions by the social network to take down questionable material. It ordered Facebook to restore posts by users that the company said broke standards on adult nudity, hate speech, or dangerous individuals.
Critics of Facebook, however, worry that the Oversight Board is a mere distraction from the company's deeper problems — ones that can't be addressed in a handful of high-profile cases by a semi-independent body of experts.
“Facebook set the rules, are judge, jury and executioner and control their own appeals court and their own Supreme Court. The decisions they make have an impact on our democracies, national security and biosecurity and cannot be left to their own in house theatre of the absurd,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit critical of Facebook. “Whatever the judgement tomorrow, this whole fiasco shows why we need democratic regulation of Big Tech."
Gautam Hans, a technology law and free speech expert and professor at Vanderbilt University, said he finds the Oversight Board structure to be “frustrating and a bit of a sideshow from the larger policy and social questions that we have about these companies."
“To some degree, Facebook is trying to create an accountability mechanism that I think undermines efforts to have government regulation and legislation,” Hans said. “If any other company decided, well, we’re just going to outsource our decision-making to some quasi-independent body, that would be thought of as ridiculous.”
__
Associated Press Writer Jill Colvin contributed to this story.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
-EV 8/14/93
But to hell with Trump, and really, all politics on social media. I liked when Facebook was just for keeping touch with people you live now live away from. Which really, for me, is what it still is. But I know that for others, Facebook and Twitter are (sadly) news sites.
I personally prefer Instagram. 90's wrestling clips, sports stats, Seinfeld memes, cute golden retrievers, and ass models. This is the stuff I follow.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
-EV 8/14/93
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
I also had a friend meet him at a Nascar race a year or two ago and said the same. Said he was a bit awkward which you can tell by watching him, but said he was as nice as could be.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
All 3 I think are cesspools. Everything that is on IG gets posted to twitter and FB anyway.
Here's a screenshot of the top post on all three of my feeds. Just to demonstrate that social media, like the internet in general, and the world as a whole, doesn't have to be the miserable cesspool if you don't want it to be.
Facebook....
Instagram..
Twitter...
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
-EV 8/14/93