Facebook's Oversight Board plans to launch just before U.S. election
- Facebook Incs long-delayed independent Oversight Board plans to launch in mid-late October, just before the November U.S.
The board, created by Facebook in response to criticism of its handling of problematic content, will initially have the power to review decisions to take down posts from Facebook and Instagram, and recommend policy changes.
Oversight Board member Alan Rusbridger told Reuters in an interview this week the board was now aiming for an October launch. A board spokesman said that the late launch, originally planned for last year, had been further slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Potential cases would come to the board from users who have exhausted the appeals process, or be sent over from Facebook.
Deciding and implementing rulings would take up to 90 days, although Facebook could ask for them to be expedited within 30 days.
The Facebook spokeswoman said it was unlikely that cases related to the election would get through the process given that time frame.
Rusbridger also told Reuters that cases involving President Donald Trumps posts were not among those that the board had looked at in trial runs.
Facebook faced employee backlash in recent months over its decision to take no action over posts from Trump containing misleading claims about mail-in voting and inflammatory language about anti-racism protests.
Facebook can also ask the board for policy recommendations though it does not have to act on them, a framework that was criticized by some U.S.
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