Facebook's Oversight Board delivers a Trump ban decision (plus, one non-decision)

When FB "Memories" resurfaces a terrible pic... Flashback to January: Big Tech excommunicated Donald Trump, after he was criticized for stoking the storming of the US Capitol. Twitter permanently banned Trump and removed all of his tweets. Facebook suspended his accounts temporarily — and potentially indefinitely. About that...

• FB punted the decision to its "Oversight Board," a 20-person independent body that makes binding decisions on content moderation. It includes law school professors, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and... the former Prime Minister of Denmark.
• The Board decided that FB was justified in suspending Trump, but didn’t explain if/why the ex-POTUS should be permanently banned. Also: that it was inappropriate for FB to impose the "standardless penalty" of indefinite suspension.

Call it "scapeboard"... FB punted the weighty decision to the board. The Board punted it right back, giving FB six months to determine whether Trump should be permanently banned and why. But even without a final decision...

• The Board's support of the restriction sets a precedent for how FB (and even other social apps) may be expected to react to world leaders going forward.
• Facebook has been scrutinized for not taking action when leaders incite violence, including allowing Indian politicians' posts saying Rohingya Muslim immigrants should be shot.
• Twitter has been criticized for not labeling or removing tweets from Iran's Supreme Leader calling for the annihilation of Israel, and violent posts from other world leaders.