Over the next 87 days, the Oversight Board will rule on where Former President Donald Trump can return to Facebook and reconnect to millions of his followers.
The Oversight Board includes a star-studded jury
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg And News Corp CEO Robert Thomson Debut Facebook News NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 25: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pauses while speaking about the new Facebook News feature at the Paley Center For Media on October 25, 2019 in New York City. Facebook News, which will appear in a new dedicated section on the Facebook app, will offer stories from a mix of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, as well as other digital-only outlets.
The Oversight Board members include two people reportedly on presidential lists for the U.S. Supreme Court, a British Pulitzer winner, a Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a former prime minister of Denmark, and Colombia's leading human rights lawyer. The 20 members came from 18 countries and speak 27 languages, as per New York Times.
Aside from American politics, the decision if Former President Trump would return to Facebook has significant consequences for how social media is regulated. The Board will examine Facebooks' own rules and international human rights law guiding Trump's question. They will also border guidance that Facebook will endow the panel with new legitimacy.
Evelyn Douek, a lecturer at Harvard Law School who studies content moderation and the one who pushed Facebook to send Trump's case to the Oversight Board, said, "Either it's nothing, or it's the New World Order."
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Facebook urged independent Oversight Board for Trump's account's final decision
Facebook defended its decision to suspend Trump as "necessary and right." The social media company wants its independent oversight board to decide if the former President must regain access to Facebook and Instagram accounts.
On Thursday, Facebook said it hopes and expects the oversight board to confirm its decision to ban Trump's account following the violent mob in the U.S. Capitol Building, CBS News reported.
In a blog post, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg wrote, "Given its significance, we think it is important for the board to review it and reach an independent judgment on whether it should be upheld."
Facebook claims its Oversight Board is independent, and no one in the company can overturn its final decision. Trump's accounts will remain suspended while the case is under review, as per Clegg.
Last May, the Oversight Board was created and heard its first cases in the fall. All the members are based worldwide, comprising professors, journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's former prime minister, was also included.
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Jamal Greene, one of four co-chairs of Facebook's 20-member oversight board, told CBS News that members would work on the issue as quickly as possible. Greene is a Columbia University law professor. He noted that there is a 90-day limit for the Board to hear a case. However, he does not expect to have taken it that long. The oversight board was created last May and held its first cases in the fall.
Emma Llansó, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in the first ten cases, Trump's case is coming up that the Board has ever looked at. Llansó explained that Trump's case is significant to understand what kinds of things the Board would consider in the coming to its opinion and what they expect to see from them in future cases.
The Board will look at the content that Trump posted, considering Facebook's reason for suspension, and learn if the decision was consistent with Facebook's community standards, international rights law, and company values, Greene said.
Starting next week, the public has the chance to comment on the case, and Trump could submit a statement to the Oversight Board. A final opinion will be produced by a five-member panel from the Board, who is assigned to hear Trump's case, including dissenting views. Once an outcome is announced, Facebook will have seven days to implement it. The Oversight Board's decision does not have to be unanimous, as per Greene.
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