Rulings will be scrutinised to see how independent the board is ahead of decision on whether Facebook was right to suspend Trump's accountsDeciding its first cases, Facebook's oversight board ruled on Thursday that the social media company was wrong to remove four of five pieces of content the board reviewed, including posts Facebook took down for violating rules on hate speech and harmful Covid-19 misinformation.
The group, which was created by Facebook in response to criticism of the way it treats problematic content, also called for Facebook to be clearer about its rules on what is allowed on its platforms. A post in a group claiming certain drugs could cure Covid-19, which criticised the French government's response to the pandemic. This case was submitted by Facebook, rather than a user.
“We can see that there are some policy problems at Facebook,” said board member Katherine Chen. “We want their policy to be clear — especially those policies involved in human rights and freedom of speech. They have to be precise, accessible, clearly defined,” she added.