Kara Swisher Reacts to Facebook Upholding Trump Ban

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Tell me something. I know you don’t think this is farewell Donald Trump from social media. But it’s a pretty big deal, right, Kara, because they have not un unbanned him.

KARA SWISHER, “THE NEW YORK TIMES”: Right.

AMANPOUR: And it gives at least some time to keep thinking about what to do.

SWISHER: Yes, they’re trying to kick the can down the road. It’s purgatory for him, and he’s going to stay there for a little while longer, because nobody wants to make this hard decision that Twitter did earlier. They made a permanent ban. And that was that. And they have been doing just fine ever since. And, in fact, they don’t have to deal with all the nonsense. I think they’re probably thrilled not to have to devote staffing to that. I think Facebook tried to move it over to this Oversight Board, which is not within Facebook. It’s an independent body, even though Facebook paid for it, figured out the system, they handpicked the people. And it feels a little close to Facebook, but it’s supposed to be an independent board. That said, a lot of perceptual problems around that. But they have essentially said to Mark Zuckerberg, you’re not handing this hot potato to us. You’re going to figure it out, and then we will discuss it. And so, really, it’s back in Facebook’s court to decide what to do about Donald Trump.

AMANPOUR: And what do you think about that, then, Kara?

SWISHER: Yes.

AMANPOUR: I mean, shouldn’t the founder of this massive, huge corporation actually figure out the rules?

SWISHER: Yes. Yes, I think so. I have said that for a long time. They have rules, but they don’t enforce them. They have power, but they pretend they don’t have it. They say their hands are tied, but they tied their own hands. This — it’s gone on for years like this with Facebook. It’s, when it comes to really difficult things, somehow, they’re not as smart as they say they are most of the rest of the time. And so my whole argument for a long time, and including a column I just did, was, this is a lazy abrogation of their responsibility. That said, the fact that these social media companies or these search companies are so concentrated in terms of power, we have a problem with power. And I think both Republicans and Democrats can agree having two people decide on the fate of Donald Trump, which would be Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, is problematic. We don’t have enough competition, and, therefore, we have monopoly situations in these instances. And where you can come together is that’s — even if you like their decision, it’s a problem.