Trump Stays Banned on Facebook. Keep It That Way.

Donald Trump remains banned from Facebook Inc.’s global echo chamber, and that’s a good thing. After the social media company banned him in January for inciting a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, its Oversight Board — the outside group the company established to monitor controversial content and arbitrate thorny issues such as Trump’s exile — said Wednesday that his history of violence disqualified him for the time being.

“The Board found that, in maintaining an unfounded narrative of electoral fraud and persistent calls to action, Mr. Trump created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible,” a summary of the decision noted. The board also took Facebook itself to task, saying that “it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.” It pointed out that Facebook typically penalizes rule-breakers by removing content, imposing suspensions with a clear time frame or permanently disabling an account. It called on the company to remedy confusing guidelines for how its rules are applied against any of its users, with special, but not exclusive, care given to how influential political leaders are treated.