Social media users fury as Trump’s Facebook ban is reviewed
- up2010162
- May 19, 2021
- 2 min read
#DeleteFacebook has been spread round social media this week, in protest of Facebook reviewing their decision to permanently ban Donald Trump from their site.
Following the Capital Hill Riots, Trump was banned from Facebook after violating the community guidelines. He used the platform to support rioting against the US Congress, after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
The Oversight Board is an independent judgment panel that overlooks freedom of expression issues on Facebook. Oversight push for free speech on social media and argued that Facebook must fight against pressure to ban opposing political views.
After Facebook stated that Trump’s ban would be reviewed, #DeleteFacebook quickly gained popularity on Twitter. Users stated that if Trump were to be allowed back onto the platform, they would immediately be deactivating their Facebook accounts.
The boycott of Facebook gained momentum, with many Twitter users persuading others to follow in pursuit and collectively delete Facebook. Some argued that keeping Trump on Facebook would harm democracy and encourage violence by promoting political chaos to his 35 million followers on Facebook.
Tweets expressing their opinions of Trump and encouraging people to delete Facebook
However, some Twitter users argued that deleting Facebook would be unnecessary and do more harm than good. The boycott of Facebook would leave only the Trump supporters on the platform consequently, there would be no oppositions to challenge their views. Users argued that this could encourage breaches of social media’s guidelines as there would be no appeals made to the Oversight Board.
The former president called his media ban a ‘disgrace’, accusing social media companies of being ‘corrupt’.
Whilst he may be banned from social media platforms, this has not stopped Trump expressing his views, as a news feed has been added to his website, allowing him to communicate online.
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