Facebook's Supreme Court

Facebook has an "Oversight Board". Think of it as the company's "Supreme Court" with regards to decisions on what content is allowed. Originally conceived of back in 2018, the 20 members were not announced until May 2020. They're from all over the world, but largely can be described as a mix of attorneys, journalists, and human rights activists.

The first batch of decisions from the group has been released.

The only decision out of the 5 that upheld a speech restriction had to do with an Azerbaijani slur:

The post used the term "тазики" ("taziks") to describe Azerbaijanis. While this can be translated literally from Russian as "wash bowl," it can also be understood as wordplay on the Russian word "азики" ("aziks"), a derogatory term for Azerbaijanis which features on Facebook's internal list of slur terms. Independent linguistic analysis commissioned on behalf of the Board confirms Facebook's understanding of "тазики" as a dehumanizing slur attacking national origin.

Here's how the Oversight Board discusses an incident involving a nipple. Very similar language to what you see in a legal opinion:

In its response, Facebook claimed that the Board should decline to hear this case. The company argued that, having restored the post, there was no longer disagreement between the user and Facebook that the content should stay up, making this case moot.

The Board rejects Facebook’s argument. The need for disagreement applies only at the moment the user exhausts Facebook’s internal appeal process. As the user and Facebook disagreed at that time, the Board can hear the case.

All this plays into my biases as an attorney admittedly and I find a lot of promise in such an institution. And the fact that most of the decisions are leaning towards allowing speech rather than restricting also play into my free speech maximalist leanings.

Does such an organization materially shift your opinion of Facebook and the future of social media content moderation?