More broadly, the Oversight Board also correctly notes that Facebook's penalty system is unclear and that it must better explain its strikes and penalties process, and inform users of strikes and penalties levied against them. And Facebook should report error rates and thematic consistency of determinations as compared with its ordinary enforcement procedures. Specifically, the Oversight Board explains that Facebook needs to document all of these special decisions well, clearly explain how any newsworthiness allowance applies to influential accounts, clearly explain how it cross checks such decisions including its rationale, standards, and processes of review, and the criteria for determining which pages to include. But we agree that special rules for influential users or highly newsworthy content requires even greater transparency and the investment of substantial resources. On a practical level, every decision to remove a post or suspend an account is highly contextual and requires often highly specific cultural competency. These rules recognize that some users can cause greater harm than others. Today’s decision affirms, once again, that no amount of “oversight” can fix the underlying problem.įirst, while the Oversight Board rightly refused to make special rules for politicians, rules we have previously opposed, it did endorse special rules and procedures for “influential users” and newsworthy posts. In the meantime, here’s our top-level breakdown: The decision is long, detailed, and worth careful review. Perhaps most importantly, the Board affirms that it cannot and should not allow Facebook to avoid its responsibilities to its users. Consistency and transparency should be the hallmarks of all content decisions. But it is also a careful and needed indictment of Facebook’s opaque and inconsistent moderation approach that offers several recommendations to help Facebook do better, focused especially on consistency and transparency. Today’s decision from the Facebook Oversight Board regarding the suspension of President Trump’s account - to extend the suspension for six months and require Facebook to reevaluate in light of the platform’s stated policies - may be frustrating to those who had hoped for a definitive ruling.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |