ENCOURAGE COMPANIES TO ESTABLISH OVERSIGHT BOARDS
TO RULE ON ONLINE SPEECH ISSUES, MUCH LIKE FACEBOOK HAS
On May 6, 2020, Facebook announced the first members of its new Oversight Board. Facebook created the Oversight Board to hold the company accountable for decisions regarding online speech.
We believe this is a solid idea, but it is important to watch the results carefully. The Oversight Board needs to actually hold Facebook accountable, not simply give them cover to continue bad business as usual. Also, the Facebook Oversight Board needs a much broader scope. For example, at present the committee only oversees material that has been taken off the platform. Hopefully, this will soon extend to controversial material that has been reported to Facebook, but that is still visible on the platform.
FROM THE FACEBOOK OVERSIGHT BOARD WEBSITE:
As its community grew to more than 2 billion people, it became increasingly clear to the Facebook company that it shouldn’t be making so many decisions about speech and online safety on its own. The Oversight Board was created to help Facebook answer some of the most difficult questions around freedom of expression online: what to take down, what to leave up, and why. The board uses its independent judgment to support people’s right to free expression and ensure those rights are being adequately respected. The board’s decisions to uphold or reverse Facebook’s content decisions will be binding, meaning Facebook will have to implement them, unless doing so could violate the law.
The purpose of the board is to promote free expression by making principled, independent decisions regarding content on Facebook and Instagram and by issuing recommendations on the relevant Facebook company content policy. When fully staffed, the board will consist of 40 members from around the world that represent a diverse set of disciplines and backgrounds. These members will be empowered to select content cases for review and to uphold or reverse Facebook’s content decisions. The board is not designed to be a simple extension of Facebook’s existing content review process. Rather, it will review a select number of highly emblematic cases and determine if decisions were made in accordance with Facebook’s stated values and policies.
To ensure a global perspective, the Oversight Board includes members from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds, reflecting the diversity of the Facebook community itself. These members were chosen because they are experienced at deliberating thoughtfully and collegially, skilled at making and explaining decisions based on a set of policies or principles, and familiar with digital content and governance. Special consideration was given to people who have demonstrated a proficiency in questions of online content moderation and a history of working with others on difficult problems towards a common goal.