Friday, May 08, 2020

Facebook names 20 people, including journalists, to a 'Supreme Court' as ultimate arbiters for allowed content

"Facebook on Wednesday appointed 20 people from around the world to serve on what will effectively be the social-media network’s 'Supreme Court' for speech, issuing rulings on what kind of posts will be allowed and what should be taken down," David Ingram reports for NBC News. "The list includes nine law professors, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Yemen, journalists, free speech advocates and a writer from the libertarian Cato Institute."

The board doesn't include a disinformation researcher. "Facebook has struggled to contain state-based manipulation efforts as well as hoaxes on subjects like false cures and gun violence," Ingram reports.

Facebook staff will handle everyday cases, but the board will take on difficult decisions on Facebook as well as the Facebook-owned Instagram. The group will essentially act as an appeals court, said one co-chair, former federal judge Michael McConnell. “We are not the internet police,” he told NBC. “Don’t think of us as sort of a fast-action group that’s going to swoop in and deal with rapidly moving problems.”

The board could take some of the heat from Facebook, often a target of political ire when lawmakers believe they or their supporters are being unfairly censored, Ingram reports. Facebook has tried to show that the board is independent, paying it from a $130 million trust and promising not to remove members from the board.

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