‘Facebook content oversight board draait meeste censuur terug; Trump-account wordt publiekelijk gekeurd!’
De social media netwerken liggen onder vuur door hun manier van censuur. Ze lijken zonder enige vorm van communicatie voor eigen rechter te spelen en verwijderen zomaar content uit de feed. Om deze beslissingen eens beter te beoordelen, is er een zogenoemde Facebook content oversight board. De Oversight Board is een instantie die acties onderneemt over het modereren van inhoud op het sociale mediaplatform Facebook, met name over het behandelen van beroepen voor geblokkeerde of verwijderde inhoud.
In November 2018, Facebook proposed creating a content oversight board that would make content moderation decisions on the platform. Among the goals for this board include improving the fairness of the appeals process, give oversight and accountability from an outside source, and improve transparency.
De eerste twintig leden die in 2020 zijn ge-installeerd:
| Name | Country | Term | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalina Botero Marino, co-chair | Colombia | 2020– | Dean of Law Faculty at Universidad de los Andes |
| Jamal Greene, co-chair | United States of America | 2020– | Professor at Columbia Law |
| Michael McConnell, co-chair | United States of America | 2020– | Constitutional law professor at Stanford Law |
| Helle Thorning-Schmidt, co-chair | Denmark | 2020– | Former prime minister of Denmark |
| Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei | Ghana; South Africa | 2020– | Human rights lawyer |
| Evelyn Aswad | United States of America | 2020– | Law professor at University of Oklahoma College of Law |
| Endy Bayuni | Indonesia | 2020– | Journalist |
| Katherine Chen | Taiwan | 2020– | Public relations and statistics professor at National Chengchi University |
| Nighat Dad | Pakistan | 2020– | Lawyer and internet activist |
| Pamela S. Karlan | United States of America | 2020– | Stanford Law professor and US Supreme Court advocate |
| Tawakkol Karman | Yemen | 2020– | Journalist and human rights activist |
| Maina Kiai | Kenya | 2020– | Lawyer and human rights activist |
| Sudhir Krishnaswamy | India | 2020– | Vice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University |
| Ronaldo Lemos | Brazil | 2020– | Lawyer and academic |
| Julie Owono | Cameroon; France | 2020– | Lawyer and executive director of Internet Sans Frontieres |
| Emi Palmor | Israel | 2020– | Former director general of Israeli Justice Ministry |
| Alan Rusbridger | United Kingdom | 2020– | Journalist |
| András Sajó | Hungary | 2020– | Law academic |
| John Samples | United States of America | 2020– | Vice president of Cato Institute |
| Nicolas Suzor | Australia | 2020– | Associate law professor at Queensland University of Technology |
Deciding its first-ever cases, Facebook Inc’s oversight board ruled on Thursday that the social media company was wrong to remove four of five pieces of content the board reviewed, including posts Facebook took down for violating rules on hate speech and harmful COVID-19 misinformation. The first rulings will be scrutinized to see how independent the board appears from the world’s largest social media platform, particularly ahead of its high-profile decision on whether Facebook was right to suspend former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Over de board
Over de board, die in de periode januari-mei 2020 is ingesteld, zegt Brayve.net:
With our size comes a great deal of responsibility, and while we have always taken advice from experts on how to best keep our platforms safe, until now, we have made the final decisions about what should be allowed on our platforms and what should be removed. And these decisions often are not easy to make – most judgments do not have obvious, or uncontroversial, outcomes and yet many of them have significant implications for free expression.
Als we hun werkzaamheden over 2020 bekijken, valt op dat de Facebook Oversight Board 4 van de 5 beslissingen heeft teruggedraaid. Dit heeft tot een aanbeveling geleid die nieuwe regels duidelijker moet maken.
Trump
Ook het blokkeren van het account van ex-president Trump is een van de gevallen. Het lijkt erop dat er publieke gestemd mag worden op het toelaten van zijn account, zo meldt Reuters eind januari 2021:
Facebook blocked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts over concerns of further violent unrest following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by the former president’s supporters. The board said on Thursday it would soon be opening the Trump case up for public comment.
Afbeelding boven: brayve.net.
