Sunshine Sentinel

Former President Donald Trump has filed an appeal to the oversight board funded by Facebook seeking to rejoin the social media platform.

The process to look into the appeal has started; it could take at least two and half months for a decision to be made. Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a co-chair of the oversight board, confirmed this to UK’s Channel 4 News.

“It’s a very high-profile case but that is exactly why the Oversight Board was created in the first place,” Thorning-Schmidt said, according to The Epoch Times. 

The board also confirmed in a statement, “A user statement has been received in the case before the Oversight Board concerning President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.”

“We will have no further comment concerning that statement until the Board has issued its decision,” read the statement issued to The Epoch Times. 

Comprising 19 former politicians, journalists, and academics, the board was specifically set up to independently hear users. 

The board is also reviewing public comments on Trump’s appeal and to that they have started receiving thousands comments, Thorning-Schmidt said.

Facebook banned Trump indefinitely along with other big tech companies like Twitter, Google, Snapchat, and Twitch, following the Jan. 6 U.S Capitol invasion. 

The Silicon Valley company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg justified the ban.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” Zuckerberg said in a statement at the time Trump was censored. 

Trump, who is accused of violating the platform's community standards, on the day in question made posts encouraging supporters to peacefully demonstrate, and told them to go home when violence escalated. Following the censorship, concerns were raised over First Amendment rights and Facebook's seeming unfairness toward conservatives. 

Trump last week hinted at rejoining social media or creating his own social media platform. He however did not show interest in Twitter, calling it boring. Many conservatives left the platform after his permanent ban in January.