Facebook Oversight Board


The Oversight Board is an entity that makes content moderation decisions on the social media platform Facebook, specifically about handling appeals for blocked or removed content. Proposed in November 2018 by Mark Zuckerberg, the first members of the board were announced on May 6 2020.
Facebook said the board's members have lived in 27 countries and speak at least 29 languages, though a quarter of the group and two of the four co-chairs are from the United States, where the company is headquartered. The co-chairs, who selected the other members jointly with Facebook, are former U.S. federal circuit judge and religious freedom expert Michael McConnell, constitutional law expert Jamal Greene, Colombian attorney Catalina Botero-Marino and former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Among the initial cohort are: former European Court of Human Rights judge András Sajó, Internet Sans Frontières Executive Director Julie Owono, Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, and Pakistani digital rights advocate Nighat Dad.

History

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.
In January 2019, Facebook received a draft charter for the board and began a period of public consultations and workshops with experts, institutions, and people around the world. In June 2019, Facebook released a 250-page report summarizing the findings from the period of public consultation, and announced that they are in the process of looking for people to serve on the 40-person board.
In July 2020 it was announced that the Board would not start work until "later in the year".

Members

The 20 members of the Oversight Committee were announced on 6 May 2020.
NameCountryTermDetails
Catalina Botero Marino, co-chairColombia2020 - presentDean of Law Faculty at Universidad de los Andes
Jamal Greene, co-chairUnited States of America2020 - presentProfessor at Columbia Law
Michael McConnell, co-chairUnited States of America2020 - presentConstitutional law professor at Stanford Law
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, co-chairDenmark2020 - presentFormer prime minister of Denmark
Afia Asantewaa Asare-KyeiGhana, South Africa2020 - presentHuman rights lawyer
Evelyn AswadUnited States of America2020 - presentLaw professor at University of Oklahoma College of Law
Endy BayuniIndonesia2020 - presentJournalist
Katherine ChenTaiwan2020 - presentPublic relations and statistics professor at National Chengchi University
Nighat DadPakistan2020 - presentLawyer and internet activist
Pamela S. KarlanUnited States of America2020 - presentStanford Law professor and US Supreme Court advocate
Tawakkol KarmanYemen2020 - presentJournalist and human rights activist
Maina KiaiKenya2020 - presentLawyer and human rights activist
Sudhir KrishnaswamyIndia2020 - presentVice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University
Ronaldo LemosBrazil2020 - presentLawyer and academic
Julie OwonoCameroon, France2020 - presentLawyer and executive director of Internet Sans Frontieres
Emi PalmorIsrael2020 - presentFormer director general of Israeli Justice Ministry
Alan RusbridgerUnited Kingdom2020 - presentJournalist
András SajóHungary2020 - presentLaw academic
John SamplesUnited States of America2020 - presentVice president of Cato Institute
Nicolas SuzorAustralia2020 - presentAssociate law professor at Queensland University of Technology