The big thing A few months ago, I wrote about how Facebook kicking the can down the road by temporarily banning (now former) President Trump was only going to cause it more problems in the long-term. In January, days after a temporary ban, Facebook pushed the decision of Trump’s reinstatement to its invented venerable institution, the Facebook Oversight Board, hoping that the group of academics and intellectuals could come to a decision that would leave the company less liable for criticism. But after months of deliberations, they have unsurprisingly decided to pass up making any sweeping calls in how the internet should treat problematic world leaders and decided that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg should decide what the best solution should be to the platform he’s built. You can read more in my colleague Taylor’s report: The FOB confirmed that while it agrees Facebook had sufficient justification to suspend Trump's account on January 7 (and to remove posts that violated its policies against praise for violent acts), it believes the tech giant imposed an improper penalty which was not in line with its own rules. Its requirement is that Facebook revisit the case, with the board essentially encouraging it to take a full six months to deliberate, and then either restore Trump's account, make the ban permanent or define a suspension for a set period of time. "The opinion stresses that Facebook's own policies do not authorize an indefinite suspension," said McConnell during a call with reporters, emphasizing that the company's own policies don't allow for such a 'fence-sitting' restriction and noting too that internationally recognized principles of freedom of expression "maintain that restrictions on speech must be clearly stated understandable". What will result is a long, enduring, seemingly endless news cycle where Facebook has no friends or defenders among Democrats or Republicans because they took a position composed of half-measures rather than a decisive choice. | 
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