The Facebook Oversight Board, which will conclude whether Donald Trump’s unlimited suspension should be cancelled, got an appeal on behalf of the former United States president, arguing for his Instagram and Facebook accounts to be restored.
“We can verify that a user statement has been accepted in the case before the Oversight Board concerning President Trump’s Instagram and Facebook accounts,” a member of the Oversight Board said in a statement on Monday.
The board member declined to comment any further.
The Oversight Board has obtained about 9,200 comments from the general public on the heatedly debated question of whether Trump accesses his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Facebook stated in January that it requested the Oversight Board to review its order to suspend Trump on January 7, the day after a mob of the president’s followers stormed the Capitol.
Trump’s accounts on Instagram and Facebook remain suspended, awaiting the Oversight Board’s decision.
Trump’s plea was first announced by Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom.
The Trump ban is the most crucial case yet for the Oversight Board, carrying far-reaching political results for the nation. Facebook’s Oversight Board has three months to make a decision, but a decision is expected more quickly. Its ruling is binding and cannot be reversed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg or any other Facebook official.
“Our decision to suspend the former-President Donald’s access was taken in extraordinary situations: a U.S. president actively provoking a violent revolt designed to smash the peaceful transition of power. Five citizens killed; legislators were fleeing the chair of democracy,” Facebook’s vice president of world affairs wrote last month.
