FACEBOOK could soon be forced to reverse its controversial ban on Donald Trump.
The tech firm has launched an independent investigation into whether it was right to block the then-US President.
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Trump was indefinitely suspended from Facebook on January 7.
It came after he praised as “great patriots” a violent mob that stormed the US Capitol building to try to stop lawmakers certifying the results of November’s election.
In a statement released on Thursday morning, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that the “risks” of Trump having access to the social media site “are simply too great.
But Facebook could reverse the decision, outsourcing it to the firm’s Oversight Board.
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The group was formed in 2020, and includes policy experts, scholars and journalists who review Facebook moderation decisions.
It’s powerful enough to change decisions made by Zuckerberg.
The board will now make a decision within three months.
It could ultimately declare that Facebook was wrong to ban Trump, and force Zuckerberg to reinstate the former President’s account.
Or it could agree that banning Trump was the right thing to do, leaving Don permanently barred from Facebook.
At the start of 2020, pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol – which resulted in the building locking down and five people dying.
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During a later video denouncing the attack, Trump said: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us.
“It was a landslide election and everyone knows it – especially the other side.
“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order.”
The outgoing president told his fans “we don’t want anybody hurt”.
Before telling his supporters they are “very special” and “we love you,” Trump acknowledged this is a “tough” time.
He added: “There’s never been a period of time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us.
“This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play in to the hands of these people. We have to have peace.”
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