Thread by @GoAngelo

1/ Almost immediately after FB suspended Trump, it was pretty clear that they were playing a public relations game rather than addressing any issues.

Tomorrow, it's very likely that Facebook will reinstate Trump's account.

Here a few things worth knowing about this....

https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1352004896627810312

2/ Recognize that it was Facebook -- not Trump -- that appealed the ban. And, they structured they appeal in such a way that it's basically engineered to all but ensure that the oversight group restores the account.

They asked that ban only be evaluated based on 2 posts. 2.

3/ We did an analysis of every one of Trump's 6,018 Facebook posts from 2020 and found 24% of them contained misinformation about public health, elections or other extreme rhetoric.

But see, Facebook was working to cook the books here so why make that a part of the decision here

4/ Trump's return to Facebook will measurably increase misinformation on the platform. But, even more damaging aspect is that will have effects on Facebook's algorithm too by making FB's algorithm further boost right-wing content as well as promote right-wing/extremists groups.

5/ I don't think it'll be immediate, but I do think over time there's also a risk that media will increasingly treat Trump's FB posts in much the way his tweets were treated in the past.

6/ Most people will forget, but 12+ years ago, before Trump fully embraced Twitter, his Facebook page was much more like his Twitter account. Casual rants and such. If he has FB, he's going to use it as a political cudgel and a fundraising tool. Irresistible to political media.

7/ Keep in mind: Zuckerberg/Facebook's hands are not tied. Because Facebook's appeal sooo narrow. They could very easily turn around and say: 'okay, and now we're banning the account because of the 1,400+ other posts and Trump's continued promotion of lie that election was stolen

8/ And finally, this whole Facebook board thing is a fiction. It's not a real thing and it shouldn't be treated as cuh. It's a fig leaf and a transparent attempt by Facebook to shirk responsibility. I won't belabor this because @FBoversight has done a great job explaining this.

9/ Last point: There is a lesson here. Back in early January, too many people in the media, in tech and in advocacy communities either got played by Facebook or lost sight of the thread.

Moment FB said ban was temporary, pressure should have been on them to make it permanent.

10/ But, there was too much schadenfreude about Trump getting booted from platforms that the fact that FB's ban was only temporary was glossed over.

The pressure externally and frankly from FB's own employees should have been on so that FB didn't even attempt to pull this stunt.

11/ To me, that's one of the biggest takeaways. Preventing would have been a whole lot better and easier than mitigating the harms that will flow from Trump's return.

Let's learn that lesson.