If Mark Zuckerberg thought he could dodge the big decision on whether Donald Trump gets back on Facebook, its independent panel's essentially saying not so fast, Zuck ... according to a leading tech journalist.
Kara Swisher, once dubbed Silicon Valley's most powerful tech journalist, joined "TMZ Live" Wednesday and broke down the decision by Facebook's oversight board to uphold Zuck suspending Trump from the social media platform.
Kara says the board's decision only says Zuckerberg's initial call to ban Trump was fine, but as far as banning him permanently -- it's kicked that decision right back to Zuckerberg. Essentially, they're not gonna do the dirty work for him.
The board's given Facebook some time to sort this out -- but Kara says the mission for Zuck is to establish the companies "rules of the road" when it comes to speech ... for Trump and all politicians. She says only then can the panel decide if FB's rules are fair.
Remember ... it was Zuckerberg who banned Trump from Facebook in the wake of the Capitol riot ... saying it was too great a risk to America for Trump to remain on the platform.
Kara says it's up to Facebook, not the board, to make the final decision on whether Trump's permanently banned. If it does that, she foresees other problems for Facebook down the road.