In the most unsurprising announcement ever, Facebook’s Oversight Board announced Wednesday it would uphold the social media behemoth’s removal of Donald Trump, a move taken one day after the so-called “deadly armed insurrection” at the Capitol on January 6. The ruling applied to Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The board played an obvious game of “good cop, bad cop”—Trump’s case had an official number and everything!—where the purportedly independent group of Facebook monitors tells Mark Zuckerberg how to better handle his platform. The board is a collection of international law professors, activists, journalists, and other presumed leftists; members follow the United Nations’ guidance on human rights and explained the decision on Trump’s activity was based on Facebook’s commitment to follow “international human rights standards as applicable.” (In addition to his posts about January 6, a few board members also flagged Trump’s posts on the “China virus” and a May 2020 comment about the George Floyd’s riots as evidence of his “advocacy of racial or national hatred.”)
To justify its conclusion that Trump indeed violated company rules prohibiting “dangerous individuals and organizations,” the board echoed any number of lies about what happened that day. “On January 6, 2021, during the counting of the 2020 electoral votes, a mob forcibly entered the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.,” the statement read. “This violence threatened the constitutional process. Five people died and many more were injured during the violence.”
The false claims are repeated throughout the document. “Many of those attending the rally then marched to the U.S. Capitol Building, where they joined other protestors already gathered. Many of the protestors attacked Capitol security, violently entered the building, and rioted through the Capitol. Five people died and many were injured.”
As I have reported and the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed last month, five people did not die due to the chaos on January 6. The only person killed was a protester, Ashli Babbitt, by a still unidentified Capitol police officer; law enforcement, the media, and politicians of both parties continue to lie about the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of natural causes, not injuries sustained by “insurrectionists.”
Further, tens of thousands—some estimates place the figure over 100,000—attended the president’s speech on January 6. Law enforcement officials claim roughly 800 people breached the building during and after his speech; more than 400 people have been arrested for various offenses and only a few dozen attended Trump’s speech beforehand. So the board’s accusation that “many of the protestors” committed violent crimes and that Trump is responsible is a flagrant lie with no evidence.
It’s unclear who the “many” injured victims are; the Capitol Police department—a federal agency that first promoted the lie about Brian Sicknick and acts as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party—refuses to furnish a list of injured police officers and objects to the release of video captured inside the Capitol on January 6.
No, a “mob” did not “forcibly” enter the building. Yes, protestors and other unidentified thugs in certain areas of the Capitol without question were there to cause trouble. Several rightfully have been charged with assaulting police officers and vandalizing property. But hundreds entered the Capitol peacefully and caused no damage. And congressional activity was interrupted for roughly six hours; the official certification occurred a mere 14 hours after the “riot,” as the Oversight Board described it, began.
Facebook overlords also helped extend the company’s biased involvement in the 2020 election. (Zuckerberg donated hundreds of millions last year to help rig the election in favor of Democrats.) Trump, the board opined, posted content that supported the “unfounded narrative of electoral fraud.” Far from “unfounded,” massive amounts of evidence exist to show elections in swing states were compromised at best, corrupt at worst. Unlawful activity in states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin undoubtedly helped Joe Biden win those electoral votes; an audit of ballots in Maricopa County now is underway. Election reform measures in Republican-run states are intended to prevent another 2020-like electoral disaster in 2022 and beyond.
The board’s statement is just the latest example of how the Left is using January 6 to silence dissent about the outcome of the 2020 election—to crush the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from Donald Trump, as I explained here. And despite nonstop intimidation tactics to bully Republican voters into believing the election was legitimate, the overwhelming majority refuse to submit.
So stopping Donald Trump isn’t the Left’s only goal anymore. Big Tech continues to partner with Democrats to target average Trump supporters including those arrested, detained, and prosecuted for minor crimes related to January 6. (Google just helped the feds identify a January 6 “trespasser, “a national guardsman from Wisconsin, by confirming his whereabouts inside the Capitol.)
The board made several recommendations aimed at canceling users who dare to openly defy the approved groupthink about the election and the Capitol protest. Facebook executives, according to the board, should “undertake a comprehensive review of Facebook’s potential contribution to the narrative of electoral fraud and the exacerbated tensions that culminated in the violence in the United States on January 6. This should be an open reflection on the design and policy choices that Facebook has made that may allow its platform to be abused.”
High-profile influencers on the Right will remain in Big Tech’s crosshairs. “The Board stated that it is not always useful to draw a firm distinction between political leaders and other influential users, recognizing that other users with large audiences can also contribute to serious risks of harm.”
The board’s decision is prompting the usual—and useless—outrage from Republican lawmakers. But as many have pointed out, Republicans had plenty of chances to rein in these tech tyrants. They refused; and undoubtedly, they’re all next on the proverbial social media chopping block.