InternetLab has submitted its comment to the case concerning indefinite suspension of former US President Donald Trump that was referred to the Oversight Board by Facebook.

As a Brazilian research centre, we do not address the specifics of the case. Instead, we focus on the implications from this case for different countries and regions around the world.

We stress that political leaders are in a position to legitimize, defuse or amplify behaviors with severe social and political repercussions. Many have drawn attention to their role in calls for a healthier digital environment.

Our comment highlights four points we believe should be reflected in policy and argue Facebook must act to support democracy and shows responsiveness to context in all countries in which it wishes to do business:

• policy should equally to all candidates in an elections, incumbents and those not holding public office alike;
• policy should be explicit on when a threshold has been breached on disputes of electoral results, giving users appropriate notice; a threshold should be defined in terms of violence as well as risk to the persistence of democractic institutions 
• policy should be enunciated in an accessible and organized manner (currently it is scattered between company officers’ statements and spokespeople to national and international media, public speeches given by company leadership, blog posts in the Newsroom, etc)
• higher transparency should be given to policy assessments against the accounts of political leaders, including when Facebook finds no policy violations or decides not to take action.

In 2019, Facebook Vice-President Nick Clegg said that “At Facebook, our role is to make sure there is a level playing field, not to be a political participant ourselves.” Our contribution presents elements that, in our view, must be reflected in Facebook policy if the company wishes to honor that pledge.

Read the document here.