DM Monitoring
LONDON: Facebook Inc’s FB.O independent Oversight Board, which can overrule company decisions on whether to take down posts and recommend policy changes, started accepting cases for review.
The board, which the world’s largest social network created in response to criticism of its handling of problematic content, is open for cases both from users who have exhausted the company’s appeals process and from Facebook itself.
However, Facebook has said the board is unlikely to handle cases related to the upcoming U.S. election, an event around which social media companies’ content decisions are under scrutiny. Brent Harris, Facebook’s director of governance and global affairs, told reporters on a call on Thursday that the company would not submit a case for expedited review before the Nov. 3 vote.
The board, a concept that Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg first publicly floated in 2018, announced its first 20 members in May. They include a former prime minister, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and several law experts and rights advocates.
Global users can submit appeals through the board’s website in the 15 days after Facebook contacts them about its final content decision, though this option will be gradually rolled out over the coming weeks.
A board spokesman told Reuters last month the coronavirus pandemic had contributed to delays since last year in launching the board.
The board, which will only be able to review a small slice of Facebook and Instagram content, said it would share details on its first cases in the coming weeks and open a public comment process. A maximum of 90 days is given for the board to reach case decisions and for Facebook to act on them.
Emi Palmor, an oversight board member and former director general of the Israeli Ministry of Justice, said in an interview that the board may recommend policy changes that would affect Facebook’s features, and how the company distributes content or makes money from it.
