This archive report was first published on 7 May 2020.
On May 7, 2020, the newly created Oversight Board for Facebook and Instagram Content announced the appointment of Maina Kiai, a human rights activist and Director of Human Rights Watch’s Global Alliances and Partnerships program, as one of its board members.
As a board member, Kiai will be part of a 20-member team that will review content decisions made by Facebook and Instagram, with a focus on upholding freedom of expression and human rights.
The Oversight Board will tackle complex and contentious debates about what types of content should be allowed on Facebook and Instagram, and who should decide.
Decisions made by the Board will be binding and must be implemented by Facebook, as long as they do not violate the law. The Board's members are independent of Facebook and cannot be removed by the company based on their decisions.
“We have been talking for a long time about creating some kind of independent governance structure for making big companies more accountable on some of the most important decisions they make,” said Maina Kiai.
The Oversight Board will prioritize cases that potentially impact many users, are of critical importance to public discourse, or raise questions about Facebook’s policies.
Decisions made by the Board will be made public, and Facebook must respond publicly to them. The Board will also issue a public annual report on its work to evaluate how the Board is fulfilling its purpose.
