(PresidentialHill.com)- Last week, Axios reported that Facebook recently approved a new 3-year commitment to spend another $150 million on its global oversight board, the independent board that reviews the social media platform’s actions and policies.
The Oversight Board was created to make final rulings on content moderation. Sometimes Facebook goes along with the independent board’s decisions. But sometimes, it does not.
In May, Facebook withdrew its request for policy guidance from the board on content moderation policies related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing unspecified “ongoing and safety concerns.”
Following years of criticism that Facebook inconsistently applied its content moderation policies, it created the Oversight Board in 2019 as a first-of-its-kind internet governance body. At the time, Facebook approved $130 million to fund the board.
Like that funding, the newly-approved $150 million commitment will be transferred from Facebook to the Oversight Board Trust. The trust was set up to allow the Oversight Board to operate as a separate entity apart from Facebook.
The Oversight Board began hearing appeals from users in 2020 and in some cases, the board overturned Facebook’s moderation and policy decisions.
In January 2021, Facebook referred to the Oversight Board its decision to indefinitely suspend former President Trump. And in that case, the board sided with Facebook, upholding its decision to suspend Trump. However, it did tell the company to revisit the “indefinite” nature of the suspension.
Facebook then clarified that its suspension of Trump would last for two years.
The social media platform also announced new policies on how to handle speech from prominent politicians.
