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How Facebook’s decision on the Trump ban reflects poorly on our industry

In what world?

Chris Kiess
UX Collective
8 min readMay 19, 2021

Aerial view of city distorted to take the shape of a globe
Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

I was sitting on the couch clearing out emails one night not too long ago with the news playing in the background when my ears perked up to a headline about Facebook. The headline was something to the effect of the Facebook board to decide on Donald Trump ban.

We all know how that turned out. But I remember becoming incredulous over this whole storyline as the days passed. In what world, I thought, could someone pull the kind of shit Donald Trump pulled and not be immediately banned from a platform?

I mean if this was Donnie Trump Jr., a factory worker out of Dublin, Ohio posting this type of content, I don’t think he’d get the same deferential treatment. Donnie Jr. from Dublin would be booted faster than you can click the like button. He likely would not have his online conduct reviewed by a board over a 9-month period of time.

But the former president has not been officially booted yet. His ban has merely been extended. Trump will continue to receive special consideration in the coming months as Facebook digests the board’s feedback.

In what world, I thought. In what world?

It wasn’t long before that question became all-too-evident to me. It’s in this world. It’s in our…

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Published in UX Collective

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Written by Chris Kiess

Healthcare User Experience Designer in the Greater Chicago area

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It's this simple: Trump's controversy makes them hundreds of millions in advertising dollars.