Last year Facebook announced that it was creating an Oversight Board. As the name would suggest, this division would have the authority to make declarations on decisions made by Facebook and enforce protocols on how the social media platform.

At the time it was unclear just what kind of power the Oversight Board had, but a recent decision regarding former US President Donald Trump shows that there might be more to the organisation than we first thought.

This as the Board has chosen to uphold Facebook’s decision to ban Donald Trump from using the platform, with a few caveats, however.

To that end the Board explains that Facebook’s ban of Trump, which took effect shortly after he lost the re-election, went beyond the normal protocols that the company usually puts into effect.

“It was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension. Facebook’s normal penalties include removing the violating content, imposing a time-bound period of suspension, or permanently disabling the page and account,” the Oversight Board noted in its official statement.

“The Board insists that Facebook review this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform. Facebook must complete its review of this matter within six months of the date of this decision,” it adds.

As such, by October this year, we could find out if Trump is allowed back on the platform.

The Oversight Board has also declared that Facebook needs to have a clearer policy in terms of banning people from its site, something that the company has proved ineffective in enforcing in the past, especially when it came to Trump during his presidency.

“The Board also made policy recommendations for Facebook to implement in developing clear, necessary, and proportionate policies that promote public safety and respect freedom of expression,” the statement ends.

[Image – CC BY-SA 2.0 Gage Skidmore on Flickr]