Earlier this month, UK’s Channel 4 News reported that the independent oversight board handling Trump’s indefinite ban at Facebook received a User Appeal statement. Apparently accomplished and submitted by the administrator of Trump’s Facebook account, the statement conveyed an appeal to lift the permanent suspension of Trump social media accounts owned by Facebook.
The case was handed to the oversight board last month after removing all access to Trump’s social media accounts, following his incitement of the Capitol riot. The independent board will be the one deciding whether it is correct to ban Trump for his actions. The process allows the admins of the former president’s page to confront the binding decision of Facebook that cannot be overruled by any executive.
Even though they have 90 days to make the decision, the board’s spokesperson stated that they would be prolonging the public comment period for 7 days. Particularly because of the high levels of global interest, which is also the reason why they accepted the case. The spokesperson said the comments on Trump’s case has reached more than 9,000, the highest number they ever had handle for a case.
Some civil rights activists and academics have posted open letters expressing public support in permanently banning Trump from social media sites. On the other hand, Republican lawmakers are insisting the reinstatement of Trump’s social media accounts. While the oversight board works separately from Facebook, the independent body is not wholly independent as it receives technical and financial support from FB
