The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, has its own supervisory board, the Oversight Board, which regularly overrules the company. In almost three years, the Supervisory Board has made more than 50 rulings, with the board finding that the company made the wrong decision in 75 percent of the cases.
No other tech company has a committee that acts as an overseer, but the independence of the Oversight Board is under question. The council was an initiative of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and is financed by the tech company.
The fact that the council is overruling Meta in the majority of cases is a sign of independence, but whether Facebook and Instagram subsequently also change the policy (for example by adjusting an algorithm) is unclear.
Meta does provide more explanation about the reasons for moderation decisions. It provides more information to users if a message from them is taken offline or if they are suspended.
The council has now been active for almost three years. More than 2.5 million appeals have been made to the body, resulting in just over 50 rulings.
