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Business News/ Technology / News/  Facebook now has a ‘Supreme Court’ to take appeals against content takedowns
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Facebook now has a ‘Supreme Court’ to take appeals against content takedowns

The Board can overturn decisions taken by Facebook and will be the final word on all cases it hears
  • The Board will be looking at disputes about Posts, Pages, Profiles, Groups and even Ads on Facebook
  • A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard. (REUTERS)Premium
    A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard. (REUTERS)

    Facebook today announced the first 20 members of its previously announced Oversight Board, which will act as a “Supreme Court" for the platform, on decisions about how content is moderated on Instagram and Facebook. While the Board’s purview covers only these two platforms right now, Facebook may increase this to its other platforms, like WhatsApp and others in future.

    The Board will be looking at disputes about Posts, Pages, Profiles, Groups and even Ads on Facebook. It will also influence Facebook’s overall policy around content sharing through the decisions it makes, and operates over and above Facebook’s current moderation methods, which include artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and human moderators. Cases will be passed on to the Board if there’s a dispute from the decisions that these layers have made.

    The Board can overturn decisions taken by Facebook and will be the final word on all cases it hears. Both users and Facebook can refer cases to the Board, but which cases are taken up will be at the Board’s discretion. It will have its own user facing website, which will be used for submitting disputes.

    Michael McConnell, one of the co-chairs for the Board said he expects an “enormous challenge" in choosing which cases to look at from the numerous that will come to it. “We cannot possibly examine anything more than a tiny fraction of the actual cases," he added. The Board plans to have a committee of its members who will be devoting “much of their attention" to case selection. “The hope here is that, although we can’t look at every case, the cases we do look at will be designed in such a way that they have a pretty broad impact upon all others," said McConnell.

    For the criteria to choose cases the Board hears, it will endeavour to include issues that affect a large number of people, have impact on the public discourse and on issues pertaining to Facebook’s policies. While the Board decides what cases it reviews, Facebook does have the power to send a “limited" number of cases to the Board which it will have to take and “doesn’t have the authority to ignore". The Board also has the option to consult outside experts for taking decisions.

    In most instances, the Board will have a maximum of 90 days, but Facebook says it could take decisions faster as well. The company has also publicly committed to adhering by the decisions the board makes. The Board will not intervene in the government takedown requests, for which Facebook will still follow a country’s local laws.

    “We think a combination of unique insights and perspectives will help strengthen our decision making on many different issues," said Helle Thorning Schmidt, former Prime Minister of Denmark and one of the co-chairs for the Board. Schmidt is among four co-chairs, including Colombia Law professor Jamal Greene, former US federal circuit judge Michael McConnell, and former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States Catalina Botero-Marino.

    Other members of the Board include lawyers, free speech advocates, a nobel laureate, journalist Alan Rusbridger who oversaw The Guardian’s reporting of the Edward Snowden leaks and other relevant experts from around the world, including Professor Sudhir Krishnaswamy, a vice chancellor of the National Law School of India University.

    “We are independent of Facebook and other social media companies. We contract directly with the Oversight Board and we can’t be removed by Facebook," said Greene. Facebook has established a $130 million trust, which funds the operations of the Board and it cannot be revoked.

    Further, unlike the platform’s regular moderation efforts, the board will not be using any AI tools and will focus on human decisions through its committees.

    The plan for forming the Board was first announced by Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in late 2018. The board will eventually have 40 members from across the world, but with the first 20 members announced, today marks the official start for the Board. That said, it did say that the coronavirus pandemic may hamper when it is “on track to begin hearing cases in the coming months".

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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Prasid Banerjee
    An engineering dropout, Prasid Banerjee has reported on technology in India for various publications. He reports on technology through text and audio, focusing on its core aspects, like consumer impact, policy and the future.
    Catch all the Technology News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
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    Published: 06 May 2020, 11:20 PM IST
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