Users to remove harmful content from Facebook, Instagram can move oversight board
In response to criticism regarding its handling of problematic content, Facebook created a board where users will not be able to ask the company’s independent oversight rule on any content that has been left upon the platform.
Earlier it was up to the company itself to ask the board to review the content, the case of the removed content, which the users of Facebook and Instagram had sent after exhausting their appeal process.
This change will allow any user, including Facebook’s employee to review another’s post, Thomas Hughes, the board’s administrative director said.
On Tuesday, in a blog post, the oversight board said it would include details that would identify the person who reported the content, only if they allow it.
It is also expected from the board, in the coming weeks, to decide whether to sustain Facebook’s suspension on Donald Trump, which came after the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6th.
Hughes is expecting a huge rise in the number of appeals due to the change. The board has received 30,000 appeals since it opened its gates in October. Only seven cases have been ruled.
Some critics have argued that Facebook needs more real-time and wholesale scrutiny of its systems and power than the other boards.
The boards consist of 19 members, including Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and other rights advocates and law experts. Currently, as per Hughes, a replacement of Pamela Karlan, a member of the law professor, is being chosen.
