Washington, May 6 (IANS) After the independent Oversight Board upheld Facebook’s decision to ban Donald Trump, the former US President said that this is the “political price” he has to pay for not just by Facebook, but by Google and Twitter as well.
Trump 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 in an email to The New York Times late on Wednesday.
The Board found that Trump’s posts severely violated Facebook’s rules, and his words of support for those involved in the attack on the US Capitol building legitimised violence in a situation where there was an immediate risk to people’s lives.
“President Trump’s actions on social media encouraged and legitimised violence and were a severe violation of Facebook’s rules,” said Thomas Hughes, Director of the Oversight Board Administration.
“By maintaining an unfounded narrative of electoral fraud and persistent calls to action, Mr Trump created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible. Facebook’s decision to suspend the President on January 7 was the right one,” Hughes added.
While the Board concluded that Trump should have been suspended from Facebook and Instagram, it also found that Facebook failed to impose a proper penalty.
The Board stated that within six months of the decision, Facebook must reexamine this arbitrary penalty and impose one consistent with its own rules.
The decision came as the former US President launched a new so-called social media platform, which is actually a WordPress blog on his own website.
–IANS
na/pgh
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