Facebook's own court

A big step for standards of content governance

Facebook (FB) has named the first 20 members of its Oversight Board, which is being informally referred to as the FB Supreme Court. This is a first-of-its-kind attempt to introduce standards of content governance by a social network. The board will eventually consist of 40 eminent persons drawn from all global regions. It will have the final say on FB content. It will, therefore, also refine and interpret FB’s “Community Standards”, which often lead to controversial removals or retentions. According to FB, the 20-person board contains one Nobel Peace Prize winner (Tawakkol Karman, of Yemen, an Arab Spring activist), and