Oversight board will help to keep the platform safe: Brent C Harris, Facebook

Facebook has more than 30,000 staff involved in content moderation and still there are posts that might be offensive to some people, communities or groups. Now, a 40-people “independent” oversight board will look into the most contentious content moderation decisions and give a final verdict on whether a post can stay or be pulled down.

Brent C Harris, director of governance and global affairs, Facebook, sees the oversight board as a group of independent experts who will take some hard decisions on content. In an exclusive interview with ET, Harris, who is building the oversight board, says he expects to start work by end-2019, discusses the role of the board, its independence, why social media can’t have a Hyde Park kind of place and more. Edited excerpts.