Facebook’s Oversight Board has decided to uphold the company’s suspension of former President Donald Trump. But in an announcement about its decision Wednesday, the board criticized Facebook for making the suspension “indefinite.” It said the open-ended ban was ordered without clear standards. The board demanded that Facebook’s leadership reexamine its decision and decide on another punishment that better fits the “gravity of the violation and the prospect of future harm.” The board gave the company six months to come up with a new penalty that agrees with current rules governing all Facebook users. Facebook’s semi-independent Oversight Board, which currently has 20 members, was established to rule on content-related matters. It was created after widespread criticism that Facebook was not effectively policing misinformation, hate speech and influence campaigns from outside groups or governments. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended in January over statements he posted to the services. The companies said the posts risked fueling further violence following the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. The board said it agreed with Facebook that two of Trump’s posts on January 6 “severely violated” the content standards of both Facebook and Instagram. Instagram is owned by Facebook.
