Over 50% of Facebook employees believe Donald Trump’s ban should remain in place
The survey from Blind polled 2,800 big tech employees, including those from Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
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Former president Donald Trump was banned off of basically all social media platforms during the final months of his presidency. These decisions by companies like Twitter and Facebook were divisive, but at present, Trump is still not allowed on these platforms.
Now, a survey by Blind, which polls verified professionals, asked questions to 2,800 Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Snap employees about Trump’s ban and how that made them feel about social media as well as questions Trump being banned on Facebook.
One of the main takeaways is that 66% of those polled believe that social media companies should be able to decide who and what is allowed on the platform. What makes this interesting, however, is that 67% of Reddit employees believe the opposite.
As far as the actual Trump ban, 40% of Facebook employees viewed big tech more favorably after the bans, with 67% of Reddit employees feeling the opposite way. Snap was right in the middle on this one, with 50% viewing big tech favorably.
Finally, when it comes to Donald Trump being allowed back on Facebook, numbers generally trend towards agreeing to keep Trump off the platform. 54% of Facebook employees believe he should stay banned. 67% of Twitter employees believe the same.
Overall, it’s an interesting look into the minds of employees of these social companies, especially when it comes to things like thoughts on social media bans as a whole.
Update 5/6/2021 9:03 AM EDT: The Oversight Board has announced that it has “upheld Facebook’s decision on January 7, 2021, to restrict then-President Donald Trump’s access to posting content on his Facebook page and Instagram account.” More here.
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