Social media is now probably the most important platform and may have even surpassed the Electronic media. Everyone has recognized the power it holds as many important personalities, from famous celebrities to world leaders, almost every figure is linked with social media. Earlier this year, the account of former President of United States, Donald Trump was permanently banned from Facebook in response for using provocative language related to Capitol Hill riots. This was the first time when such serious action was taken against one of the most important politician.
The social media giant has faced criticism many times for not taking measures against politicians even if they went against the guidelines while other users would face restrictions. However, the company has decided to leave behind these polices and will no longer protect politicians if they won’t comply with the community guidelines.
The Oversight Committee played the major role in convincing the platform for taking such measures. Since this Committee is responsible for reviewing the problematic content posted and gave the green signal for banning Trump’s account as well. They also criticized Facebook for being more lenient towards politicians and demanded equal and same rules for everyone.
The company has also decided to talk more about the strike system and explain how it actually works, what leads to a strike and the consequences the user might face while dealing with a strike. This came into focus after other organizations pointed out the actions carried by Facebook to protect accounts from facing consequences.
The Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg also accepted the fact that his company better not be linked with the policing speech process done by political figures. According to FB, these speeches should be played without any trimming of getting censored, for their audience. In November 2020, famous online news agency, the Information claimed that the platform was responsible for promoting false news through the accounts of those political figures who were not included in the post reviewing and fact checking procedure, meaning they had the power to post any news even if it was not true. Though the content getting posted would already get reviewed by the sources it was coming from such as online news sites or any posted video on another platform. But now this special treatment will be taken away and the posted content will be subjected for a complete review before going online.
Trump’s provocation in the beginning of this year at the time of George Floyds murder and the support showed by former President on the US Capitol Hill riots, as well as the backlash Facebook had to face in India when the company failed to take any measure against the comments added by the elected members of BJP. These two cases are the most important threshold events that lead the company to agree for taking away the protected hand it had provided for famous politicians. And they started to show the change by permanently banning Donald Trump from using their services.
The Oversight Committee has asked the organization to clear the misconceptions created related to the decisions being taken against a normal user vs a high profile politician.
Read next: Facebook Is Rolling Out a Feature Which Will Allow Users to Post Anonymously On Groups
The social media giant has faced criticism many times for not taking measures against politicians even if they went against the guidelines while other users would face restrictions. However, the company has decided to leave behind these polices and will no longer protect politicians if they won’t comply with the community guidelines.
The Oversight Committee played the major role in convincing the platform for taking such measures. Since this Committee is responsible for reviewing the problematic content posted and gave the green signal for banning Trump’s account as well. They also criticized Facebook for being more lenient towards politicians and demanded equal and same rules for everyone.
The company has also decided to talk more about the strike system and explain how it actually works, what leads to a strike and the consequences the user might face while dealing with a strike. This came into focus after other organizations pointed out the actions carried by Facebook to protect accounts from facing consequences.
The Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg also accepted the fact that his company better not be linked with the policing speech process done by political figures. According to FB, these speeches should be played without any trimming of getting censored, for their audience. In November 2020, famous online news agency, the Information claimed that the platform was responsible for promoting false news through the accounts of those political figures who were not included in the post reviewing and fact checking procedure, meaning they had the power to post any news even if it was not true. Though the content getting posted would already get reviewed by the sources it was coming from such as online news sites or any posted video on another platform. But now this special treatment will be taken away and the posted content will be subjected for a complete review before going online.
Trump’s provocation in the beginning of this year at the time of George Floyds murder and the support showed by former President on the US Capitol Hill riots, as well as the backlash Facebook had to face in India when the company failed to take any measure against the comments added by the elected members of BJP. These two cases are the most important threshold events that lead the company to agree for taking away the protected hand it had provided for famous politicians. And they started to show the change by permanently banning Donald Trump from using their services.
The Oversight Committee has asked the organization to clear the misconceptions created related to the decisions being taken against a normal user vs a high profile politician.
Read next: Facebook Is Rolling Out a Feature Which Will Allow Users to Post Anonymously On Groups
