Facebook to start accepting public comments on Trump ban case

Facebook’s independent oversight board will start accepting public comments on its decision on whether to permanently ban former President Trump starting Friday, the group said.

Facebook’s Oversight Board said Thursday it will open public comments regarding the key case over banning Trump’s account, along with announcing its next round of cases on Friday.

More than 150,000 cases have now been appealed to the Board. From tomorrow we’ll be announcing our next round of cases, and opening public comments on the case about former US President Donald Trump.

— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) January 28, 2021

The board said it has received more than 150,000 cases to review, and is prioritizing cases that have the potential to “affect lots of users around the world, are of critical importance to public discourse or raise important questions about Facebook’s policies.”

The board announced its first round of decisions on Thursday, overturning four of Facebook’s content removal decisions and upholding one. Facebook has seven days to restore the content in line with the board’s decision.

Facebook last week said the board would decide within the next 90 days whether to uphold or reverse the ban on Trump’s account. The company is extending the ban until the decision is announced.

Facebook made the decision to temporarily ban Trump on Jan. 7 after posts the company deemed to have incited the deadly riot at the Capitol the day before.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the ban would last until President Biden’s inauguration, and the oversight board announced shortly after it would take on the case.

Twitter has gone a step further than Facebook, putting in place a permanent ban on Trump’s account after the deadly riot.