Facebook Drastically Increases ‘Oversight Board’ Powers, Opening Door To Mob Rule Removal Of Content

Facebook has announced that it will be expanding the powers of its controversial “Oversight Board” to now accept user appeals regarding content they want removed from Facebook and Instagram.

Originally, the Oversight Board — introduced in October 2020 — was designed to provide users with a supposedly objective method of appealing the removal of content. For example, if your post was taken down by Facebook or Instagram, users had the ability to challenge this decision via an external panel.

“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,” Facebook’s “Oversight Board” website reads. “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.”

“That means that if you post something on Facebook or Instagram and it’s taken down for violating any of Facebook’s ever-changing rules on things like hate speech, nudity, misinformation, or violence — you will soon have the ability to appeal that decision to someone besides Facebook,” Vox reported in October. “For now, that option will roll out in waves, and in the next few weeks, Facebook says it’ll be an option for all users.”

However, in an announcement this week, the Oversight Board unveiled its new role in getting content pulled from the platform. “From today, users will be able to appeal content to the Oversight Board which they want removed from Facebook and Instagram.”

“Where users have exhausted Facebook’s appeals process, they can challenge the company’s decision by appealing eligible content to the Oversight Board,” the announcement states.

“So far, users have been able to appeal content to the Board which they think should be restored to Facebook or Instagram,” the announcement continues. “Now, users can also appeal content to the Board which they think should be removed from Facebook or Instagram. The Board will use its independent judgment to decide what to leave up and what to take down. Our decisions will be binding on Facebook.”

Explaining how the Oversight Board makes these decisions, Facebook provides a six-step process.

1. The Oversight Board selects cases that “affect many users” that are of “critical importance to public discourse,” and/or “raise important questions about Facebook’s policies.
2. A “diverse” five-member panel meets to discuss the case, with members of the panel being “randomly chosen.”
3. The panel then determines whether the content “violates Facebook’s Community Standards and values,” as well as “international human rights standards.”
4. The panel will also take into consideration “information from the user, Facebook, outside experts, and public comments” to reach a “draft decision.”
5. The draft decision is then provided to all Oversight Board members for final review, with a majority required to reach a published decision.
6. The decision is then published on Facebook’s website, with the decision acted upon within seven days.

According to Reuters, “The board has 19 members, including former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and several law experts and rights advocates. [The board’s administrative director] said a replacement member for law professor Pamela Karlan, who left to join the Biden administration, is being chosen.”