Facebook is referring its decision to indefinitely suspend Donald Trump to its quasi-independent oversight board.
ADVERTISEMENTFacebook has referred its decision to indefinitely suspend Donald Trump to its Oversight Board.
The social media giant took action on the official account of the former US President on January 7, stating that Trump incited his supporters to violence on Capitol Hill in Washington DC
The account was initially blocked at least until a peaceful transition of power was complete.
Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President on Wednesday.
Since Trump's suspension on the platform, the campaign page, Team Trump, have continued to post and altered their profile with a "Save America" cover graphic, which has reached nearly two million Facebook users.
Trump was also banned from Facebook's rival social media giant Twitter, which had generated a huge debate about freedom of speech online.
Facebook said in a blog post that they believe they made the right decision to suspend Trump, but are referring the suspension for "independent judgment".
The decision will be a major test for the panel, an independent entity funded by Facebook which was recently established to rule on content and policy issues.
The Facebook Oversight Board has also been empowered to make binding rulings, which cannot be overturned by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But the panel does not set policies or decide if Facebook's enforcement of regulations is effective.
The current twenty members of the board include legal scholars, human rights experts, and a former prime minister of Denmark, who are all paid salaries by Facebook.
The group started hearing cases in October, a decision seen as controversial to many as it fell just a week before the 2020 US Presidential election.
Last month, the Oversight Board announced the first six cases where it will review the platform's content moderation.