Meta Oversight Board to begin reviewing cases more quickly

The Oversight Board was created in late 2020 to review Facebook and Instagram’s decisions on taking down or leaving up certain content and make rulings on whether to uphold or overturn the social media company’s actions. Since then, the board has published 35 case decisions, it said in a blog post.

The board, which has 22 members, said it will now begin publishing decisions on some cases on an expedited basis. Rulings could come as quickly as 48 hours after accepting a case, while others could take up to 30 days.

Standard decisions, in which the Oversight Board reviews Meta’s content moderation actions in depth, can take up to 90 days.

Publishing more decisions and increasing the pace will “let us tackle more of the big challenges of content moderation, and respond more quickly in situations with urgent real-world consequences,” the board said in the blog post.

Unlike standard decisions, expedited cases will be reviewed by a panel of board members instead of the full board and will not consider public comments.

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The board will also begin publishing summary decisions to analyze cases in which Meta changed its mind about whether to leave up or take down posts. Such cases could help Meta avoid similar mistakes in the future and may be useful for researchers and civil society, the board said. It also said Tuesday it will add Kenji Yoshino, a constitutional law professor at New York University School of Law, as a new board member.

Cross-check system for VIPs

In December last year, Meta Platforms’ Oversight Board recommended that the company revamp its system exempting high-profile users from its rules, saying the practice privileged the powerful and allowed business interests to influence content decisions.

The arrangement, called cross-check, adds a layer of enforcement review for millions of Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to celebrities, politicians and other influential users, allowing them extra leeway to post content that violates the company’s policies.

Cross-check “prioritizes users of commercial value to Meta and as structured does not meet Meta’s human rights responsibilities and company values,” Oversight Board director Thomas Hughes said in a statement announcing the decision.