Facebook's Oversight Board has published its first set of quarterly reports, and it has found the social network lies too much. Facebook established the Oversight Board to help guide decisions relating to how it operates and how it treats content hosted on its suite of apps. The body officially began its work in October 2020. Since that time, has made rulings on several key areas of policy, including how to deal with an indefinite ban against Donald Trump’s account.
The Oversight Board comprises 20 individuals, including digital rights campaigners, academics, journalists, and even a former Danish Prime Minister. Although Facebook established and finances the body, it operates independently, and its decisions are precedent-setting. The Oversight Board has ordered Facebook to reinstate content it previously took down for violating policies around nudity, hate speech, COVID-19 misinformation, and more.
In its published reports - for the first nine months of the year - the Oversight Board says Facebook has not been forthcoming in several areas, chief among them its cross-check program. Cross-check (sometimes styled as X-check) is a moderation tool that allows high-profile users more leniency than ordinary accounts when it comes to the enforcement of its Community Standards. The Oversight Board says Facebook did not disclose it had such a scheme in place when Trump’s ban first came under its perusal, stating the omission was “not acceptable.”
Facebook Has Not Answered Key Questions
The Oversight Board claims Facebook has not been as responsive to its questions as it would like. The organization notes that between January and the end of June 2021, it submitted 156 questions to the company, 26 of which Facebook either only partially answered or entirely declined to offer a response. In its conclusions, the Oversight Board says Facebook simply is not being transparent enough. However, the body remains optimistic, suggesting that holding the firm accountable will force Facebook to be more open and truthful about how it operates. But, of course, there may be reasons to be skeptical, especially as the company is still dealing with the fallout of leaked internal research, highlighting its failure to disclose critical findings.
The Oversight Board says, going forward, it plans to issue reports roughly every three months. It will also publish an annual report, providing more detail about its interactions with Facebook and how effectively Facebook is acting on its recommendations. As insightful as this set of data may be, the next batch could be even more illuminating. The Oversight Board is set to meet with Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who revealed the social media giant’s research to the media. By all accounts, Haugen may have more to share with the body, perhaps more than Facebook has been happy to disclose.
Source: Oversight Board