Conservatives slam Facebook after social site's oversight board upholds Trump ban

Conservatives, supporters of former President Trump and others on Wednesday criticized Facebook after its quasi-oversight board decided to continue to keep Trump off the social media site while also criticizing Facebook's related policies. 

"It is a sad day for America," former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows told Fox News. "It’s a sad day for Facebook because I can tell you, a number of members of Congress are now looking at: Do they break up Facebook, do they make sure that they don't have a monopoly?"

Meadows also argued Facebook has two different standards,"One for Donald Trump and one for a number of other people that are on their sites, after the board, in its decision, acknowledged Facebook's ambiguous rules for punishing users who post contents in violation of site guidelines. 

The board in its decision insisted Facebook "review this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform."

Trump was banned from the site and from Facebook-owned Instagram following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, over concerns that his posts incited the rioters and that future ones could spark similar incidents.

The 20-member board in its decision also said "it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standard-less penalty of indefinite suspension."

Members also pointed out Facebook’s usual penalties include removing violating content, imposing a definitive period of suspension or permanently disabling the page and account.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also put Facebook on notice Wednesday about the decision, promising in a tweet that if and when the GOP controls the House, chamber Republicans will "rein in Big Tech power over our speech."

Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott announced his "DATA ACT," a bill that would give Americans legal recourse if they believe their rights were violated by Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter and Facebook-owned Instagram.

"Big tech thinks it can control everything," Scott tweeted. "Companies that censor Americans while giving brutal dictators a pass should not have free rein over your personal data to use for their benefit."

Others criticized the extended ban Wednesday including the president's son Donald Trump Jr., Political activist Charlie Kirk, and political pundit Ben Shapiro, who called the ban "absurd."

Trump critics and others have to be supporting the decision to continue the ban.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal tweeted Trump "earned his suspension from Facebook by spreading dangerous, violence-inciting lies."

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that Facebook is a "disinformation-for-profit machine" and called for Trump to be permanently banned from the site.