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Facebook's Oversight Board wants more transparency

Facebook board demanding more transparency from the company

Facebook’s Oversight Board wants more transparency from the social media company´s management. In a strongly-worded statement, the board addresses reports in the Wall Street Journal saying that some high-profile users get special treatment by the management using a cross-check system to review content. This cross-check system is reported to mean that some high-profile users are whitelisted and exempt from some or all of Facebook’s rules.

“These disclosures have drawn renewed attention to the seemingly inconsistent way that the company makes decisions, and why greater transparency and independent oversight of Facebook matter so much for users”, the board said.

Facebook later said management  would ask the Oversight Board — in the form of a Policy Advisory Opinion for recommendations about how to improve the cross-check system.

The board in its statement said: “Transparency is essential for social media platforms. The choices made by companies like Facebook have real-world consequences for the freedom of expression and human rights of billions of people across the world. By having clear rules and enforcing them consistently, platforms can give users the confidence that they’ll be treated fairly. Ultimately, that benefits everyone.”

”In light of recent developments, we are looking into the degree to which Facebook has been fully forthcoming in its responses in relation to cross-check, including the practice of whitelisting. The Board has reached out to Facebook to request they provide further clarity about the information previously shared with us.”

The board says that it expects an answer in the coming days and will include the issue of whitelisting in its October report.

The board says it has been asking questions about cross-check for some time. “In our decision concerning former US President Donald Trump´s accounts, we warned that a lack of clear public information on cross-check and Facebook’s ‘newsworthiness exception’ could contribute to perceptions that Facebook is unduly influenced by political and commercial considerations.”

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The board says management has answered questions but that answers have been incomplete.

“We’ve also made around 70 recommendations to improve Facebook’s policies, with many focusing on transparency. Many can relate to the experience of having their content removed with little explanation of what they did wrong.”

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“The Board is deeply concerned with the impact on users and the implications for freedom of expression, which is why in three of our first five decisions, we made the same recommendation to Facebook: tell users whose content you remove not just what broad ‘Community Standard’ they violated, but the specific rule they supposedly broke.”

“Steering Facebook towards greater transparency will be a collective effort. Journalists, academics and civil society all have an essential role to play in holding Facebook accountable.”

“Over time, we believe that the precedents of our decisions and the cumulative impact of our recommendations will help make Facebook’s approach more consistent, more transparent, and better for users across the globe. That is a goal worth pursuing”, the board said.

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