Opinion | Will Facebook’s oversight board sanitize the internet?

Last week, Mint reported that Facebook had extended its announcements on an oversight board that it formed some months ago. The report spoke of what the board is aimed at, how it is structured, and provided an analysis of Facebook’s record on free speech. Separately funded, the board is not supposed to be under Facebook’s control. It will provide independent reviews of content and act as a “supreme court” for people appealing against its internal review processes for taking down objectionable content. It can override decisions taken by Facebook’s own internal watchdogs and committees. This won’t include sovereign government requests, for which it has a separate process.

The board will now have over 20 members from across the globe, including Sudhir Krishnaswamy, vice-chancellor of National Law School of India University in Bangalore, human rights advocates, a former US judge, a former prime minister of Denmark and a Yemeni Nobel laureate.