This week, Facebook announced that they will be expanding the powers of their controversial “Oversight Board.” The apparently “objective” panel will now be accepting appeals from users regarding content they want removed from both Facebook and Instagram.
The Oversight Board, first introduced in October 2020, was presented as an objective solution to Facebook’s content moderation “problem.”
“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,” Facebook’s “Oversight Board” website states.
In simple terms, the first iteration of the Oversight Board was designed to provide disgruntled users with a way to challenge moderation “oversteps” of Facebook.
As Vox described when the Board was first introduced, “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.”
Now, the entire premise of the Oversight Board has been flipped from a defensive tool designed to provide users with added protections to an offensive tool capable of being leveraged by some users over others.
“From today, users will be able to appeal content to the Oversight Board which they want removed from Facebook and Instagram,” Facebook announced this week.
“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.”
This change is nothing short of a monumental attack on free speech online. It is one thing to provide an additional layer of social media bureaucracy when it comes to content that has already been removed by the platform itself. It is entirely another to introduce an additional layer which provides non-Facebook entities with the ability to remove content motivated — at least in part — by the volume of those who believe it should be taken down.
Rather than having one way to overturn the removal of content, users are now faced with new ways their content can be removed.
According to Facebook’s own policies, the Oversight Board is responsible for selecting cases which “affect many users,” are “of critical importance to public discourse,” and/or “raise important questions about Facebook policies.” These definitions are both vague and entirely subjective — by design.
In addition, Facebook wrote that “many people will be able to report the same piece of content. In these cases, multiple user appeals will be gathered into a single case file for the Board.” For those who are concerned about the impact of mob-rule content moderation online — where the loudest voices determine what is and isn’t acceptable — this provision should trigger significant alarm.
These latest actions by Facebook are nothing other than a policy “bait and switch.” The Oversight Board was sold as a positive layer of protection for users. In reality, our concerns turned out to be accurate: the Oversight Board is yet another weapon in the growing arsenal of those who wish to stifle speech online.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.