Online Public Relations Thoughts

Facebook's oversight board has upheld the social medium's ban of former president Trump from its service.  It was gratifying for the company that had been in a no-win situation of whether to cut Trump off or leave him be.  The company determined after the Jan. 6 insurrection that it was too dangerous to allow Trump to continue to claim he was defrauded in the 2020 election.  The company ducked a bullet by letting the board decide, but the board has called for Facebook to come up with clear standards for determining who should be banned and who allowed to stay.  This will be difficult unless Facebook uses the clear and present danger standard for overriding free speech.  That has worked well for media in the past.  In any event, Facebook will need to proceed in a more orderly fashion, and that is good.