Facebook’s supervisory board announced on Friday the postponement of its long-awaited decision on the return or indefinite exclusion of Donald Trump from the platform, which was initially scheduled for mid-April.
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“The council will announce its decision on the case regarding the suspension of former United States President Donald Trump from Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The Republican billionaire was banned from the Californian group’s two networks (and other platforms, including Twitter) after the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill.
He has been criticized for his repeated, unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, and his words of encouragement to his hundreds of supporters who violently rushed into the seat of the US Parliament.
The “supreme” body of the social media giant, made up of personalities from different countries from civil society, examines and decides the disputed decisions to remove or maintain content deemed problematic on Facebook or Instagram. Its judgments are binding on the company.
In the case of Donald Trump, “we have extended the deadline for receiving public notices, and have received over 9,000 responses. The Council wishes to examine them all carefully, hence these additional delays ”, explained the spokesperson.
The council, which took office in early December, agreed on January 21 to take up this burning issue, at the request of Facebook.
The social network, often accused of either censorship or lax content moderation, had said it hoped that its brand new council of elders would agree with the controversial measure.
It was “taken under extraordinary circumstances: an American president who fosters a violent insurgency to derail the peaceful transition of power; 5 people killed; legislators fleeing the seat of democracy, ”recalled Nick Clegg, vice-president of the group responsible for communication.
“It was an unprecedented series of events that required an unprecedented reaction,” he added.
In the United States, the digital ostracization of the former head of state has been widely described as regrettable, but necessary by civil society and many elected officials. But in Europe it has also drawn criticism from associations and leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, worried about the power of technology companies over freedom of expression.