Fast Facts for May 4, 2021
UPDATE: Facebook’s Oversight Board has ruled to continue the suspension of former President Trump’s Facebook/Instagram account. The Board said within the next 6 months Facebook’s CEO was required to clarify the suspension policy and make final decision about the Trump account.
The Facebook fate of former president Donald Trump will be announced tomorrow morning.
That’s when Facebook’s quasi-independent oversight board will announce its decision after a review of the former president’s suspension.
All of trump’s main stream social media accounts – including Facebook and Instagram – were suspended after the January 6th attack on the capitol. The oversight board was supposed to announce the trump decision last month but said it needed more time to look through 9000 public comments.
Facebook created the oversight panel to rule on controversial content appearing on the platform that Facebook has removed. Content like misinformation, hate speech, and nefarious influence campaigns. So far, the oversight board has voted overwhelmingly for freedom of expression over restricting content.
The board is currently made up of 20 individuals including former prime ministers, journalists, legal scholars and human rights experts. All are paid a salary by Facebook.
As for trump’s other social media accounts – twitter has permanently banned him after the company said he repeatedly violated its terms.
The CEO of YouTube’s parent company alphabet said last month – that it will lift trump’s YouTube channel suspension when it determines the risk of real world violence has decreased.
Read twitter’s permanent ban here.
PLUS
Your 2020 taxes are due in a few weeks…on May 17th.
That means you need to file your taxes and pay your tax bill by then otherwise you start accruing penalties.
But!
Three specific groups are given an automatic extension —
Number one — victims of February’s winter storm in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. You have until June 15th to file your taxes and pay your tax bill. If the IRS has your address on file in one of those states ..do nothing. Just file anytime before June 15th.
Number two — military service members and eligible support personnel serving in a combat zone. You have at least 180 days after you leave the combat zone to file your tax returns and pay any tax bill. This includes those serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones listed in the armed forces tax guide on irs.gov
Number three – US citizens and resident aliens who live and work outside the US and Puerto Rico. You have until June 15th to file your 2020 tax returns and pay any tax due.
The special June 15 deadline also applies to members of the military on duty outside the US and Puerto Rico who do not qualify for the longer combat zone extension. Affected taxpayers should attach a statement to their return explaining which of these situations apply.
If you don’t fall into any of those three special categories but want to apply for a tax filing extension you can file form 4868 on irs.gov. That pushes your tax return due date to October 15th *but* you still have to pay your tax bill no later than May 17th.
More info here.
Form 4868 here.
