Facebook today named the members of its Oversight Board, an independent body that could, in theory, help Facebook fix its many modernation problems.
Facebook today revealed the first 20 members of its Oversight Board, an independent body that can pass judgement on Facebook‘s policies, assist in content moderation, and hear appeals on existing decisions. In theory, it’s a committee that can help Facebook navigate difficult decisions of what’s okay to have on the platform, and can overrule even CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Let’s see what they actually do in practice.
In case you don’t remember — because it’s been over a year since Zuckerberg first mentioned the plan — the idea behind this group is that it’ll be able to overrule Facebook‘s upper management in policy decisions and content moderation. There will be 40 members in total, from a variety of different backgrounds, none of whom have any connection to Facebook itself. It’ll also be funded by an independent $130 million trust. The board will hear cases in five-person panels and make final rulings, saying on its site that “Facebook must implement our decisions, unless implementation could violate the law.”
Zuckerberg said in 2018 that the independent board would “be focused only on our community,” adding: “The purpose of this body would be to uphold the principle of giving people a voice while also recognizing the reality of keeping people safe.”
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In an op-ed for the New York Times, the four co-chairs of the board specify that they won’t necessarily be handling every appeal or policy decision to do with Facebook:
They also note that they know they won’t be able to fix every problem with Facebook, and that some of their decisions won’t please everyone.
