The supervisory board of Facebook announced this Thursday, October 21 that it would examine the policy of moderation of content published by celebrities, and more generally accused the social network of lacking transparency in its decisions whether or not to remove publications. "Facebook is not clear with the people who use its platforms," said in a report, the independent body, sometimes compared to the "Supreme Court" of the social media giant. "We have systematically observed cases of users being forced to guess why Facebook had removed their content."
In its report, the Supervisory Board attacks in particular the system for regulating “VIP” accounts on Facebook or Instagram, regretting that the company has not communicated more on this subject.
First kept secret, this program, called "cross-check", was unveiled by the Wall Street Journal in September thanks to documents sent by the whistleblower and former Facebook employee Frances Haugen.
One of the examples mentioned by the body concerns the moderation of the Facebook and Instagram accounts of former US President Donald Trump, suspended until January 2023. When Facebook turned to the supervisory board, asking it to decide on its decision, the social network did not share the "cross-check" program.
“This omission is not acceptable,” assert the wise men.
In addition, the business daily showed that the moderation of the accounts of certain personalities does not obey the same requirements as that of ordinary users, the celebrities being sometimes authorized to publish messages contrary to the rules of the platform.
Moderation monitoring
Established in 2020, Facebook's supervisory board is responsible for monitoring moderation decisions made by the social network. Funded by Facebook but independent of its leadership, it is made up of 20 international members including journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and former political leaders. It can be entered by Internet users if they believe that content has been wrongly removed from the platform. According to the established rules, it is expected that the firm of Mark Zuckerberg can not oppose the decisions of the board.
Last May, this body had validated the suspension of the account of Donald Trump, banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube since January 2021. The platforms accused the former US president of inciting his supporters to violence before the assault against the Capitol on January 6, 2020. The suspension of his account had at the time sparked criticism in Europe, associations and leaders - including the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel - worried about the power of technological companies on the freedom of expression.
The observations of Facebook's supervisory board are made public a few days after Donald Trump's announcement on Wednesday, October 20, of the launch of his own social network, “Truth Social”.