On Wednesday, a quasi-independent corporate advisory board appointed by Facebook declined to rule on whether the social media giant should permanently ban former President Donald Trump from its platform.<\/p>\n
Instead, Facebook\u2019s\u00a0\u201cOversight Board\u201d kicked the decision back to Facebook itself, giving the company a six-month window to further review Trump\u2019s suspension and \u201cto determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second time the ruling has effectively been delayed. An earlier decision, scheduled for April 21, was postponed after the board asked for more time to review public comments in the case.<\/p>\n
In addition to delaying the more immediate matter of whether Facebook should hand Trump back one of the megaphones he used to undermine the results of a legitimate election and effectively attempt to enact a coup, the board\u2019s indecision has given ammo to critics who argue Facebook only created the board to shield the company from hard decisions and bad press.<\/p>\n
A group of academics, journalists and nonprofit leaders calling themselves the \u201cReal Facebook Oversight Board\u201d pointed out those shortcomings in a response Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing has revealed itself to be a completely pointless charade, in that Facebook essentially set up this body as a PR device,\u201d Carole Cadwalladr, a co-founder of the group and journalist at The Guardian, told CNBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Oversight Board, in complete fairness, said, \u2018Nuh-uh, no way, you\u2019re actually responsible for this,\u2019 and so it\u2019s punted the decision back to Facebook,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Though Facebook loves to compare the board to a \u201cSupreme Court,\u201d it\u2019s nothing of the sort.<\/p>\n
For starters, as Cadwalladr notes: Facebook is a private company; Facebook does not have a Constitution; and Facebook isn\u2019t bound by the First Amendment. Facebook also handpicked all\u00a020 Oversight Board members\u00a0\u2015 a group that does not include\u00a0a single expert on disinformation \u2015 and provided all $130 million of their funding.<\/p>\n
And while Facebook says the Oversight Board\u2019s rulings are binding, if it arbitrarily decided not to implement them, it could easily do so. The company also has a carve-out for \u201crecommendations\u201d from the board, which it can implement or ignore at its leisure.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants to take responsibility for this decision, but it is Facebook\u2019s responsibility,\u201d Cadwalladr told CNBC. \u201cThey are a private company, and the preposterous thing they\u2019ve done, which is to set up this body, and to cloak it in the language of a Supreme Court … is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n