One Year Since Punting On Trump Ban, Facebook Oversight Board Still Irrelevant

More Than Ever, Facebook Needs Independent External Oversight and Regulation

4 May — One year ago tomorrow, Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld Facebook’s ban of President Trump. Widely-reported as a decision to remove the former President from Facebook’s platforms, the decision instead was a punt — kicking the can down the road for a possible reversal or reinstatement later on.

In the year since the decision, the Facebook Oversight Board — once hailed as the future of social media content moderation — has become increasingly irrelevant. Since then they have been lied to by Facebook, misled, ignored and shown to be incapable of meaningfully shifting behavior within Facebook.

• When the Facebook papers came out, the Oversight Board took no action, because they are powerless — by design.
• When Facebook continued to push climate disinformation, the Oversight Board took no action, because they are powerless — by design.
• As Facebook continues to advance Russian propaganda, the Oversight Board is taking no action, because they are powerless — by design.

As Facebook’s biggest crises have unfolded, its own Oversight Board has been paralyzed by its own lack of independence, unable to intervene as the company’s stock prices lurch and democracies around the world call out Facebook’s failure to effectively moderate content and hate speech.

For those saying Twitter needs an oversight board like Facebook, what Twitter needs is the same thing that Facebook needs: robust, external independent oversight and regulation that follows the path of the EU’s Digital Markets Act in limiting the reach of social media platforms. We call on governments to act, and we call on Facebook to take three steps today to protect democracy and avoid another Jan 6 -

1. Fix your algorithm, up-ranking credible and trusted news sources, particularly in the weeks leading up to and following an election.
2. Make an equal investment in non-English language content moderation, including Russian and 25 other languages.
3. Let academic researchers back in, allowing outside, independent scholars to monitor Facebook’s content around the 2022 elections.

Donald Trump is not banned from Facebook. He is merely suspended, in limbo due to the lackluster actions of Facebook and the Oversight Board. He could return, and return to spreading hate, racism, misogyny and disinformation at any time.

Real Facebook Oversight Board members are available for interviews. Statements do not reflect the individual positions of all Real Facebook Oversight Board Members. Contact us at media@the-citizens.com.

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