Facebook has allowed its oversight board to decide on moderation decisions on content that remains on both Facebook and Instagram’s social media platforms, when only content that moderators had removed was subject to restoration by the oversight board.
The Facebook Oversight Board was created last year to address concerns that the social media company already had too much power over the content of its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Current board members include law professors, think tank executives, representatives of non-governmental organizations, a former US federal judge, and the former prime minister of Denmark. It is run by an independent organization funded with $130 million.
The board has 19 members and will soon reach 40. That is a stark contrast to the scope of possible objections it could face.
In the six months since its inception, the board has made eight decisions based on Facebook’s policies and overruled the company in five cases.
To lodge an appeal, a person must have an active Facebook account and have gone through the company’s appeal process, after which the user can forward their petition to the regulator.
In the second quarter of 2020, Facebook removed 22.5 million posts for violating the company’s hate speech policies, and the number of cases is certain to increase, as Facebook alone already has 1.8 billion daily active users.
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