(Reuters) - Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) new content oversight board will include a former prime minister, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and several constitutional law experts and rights advocates among its first 20 members, the company announced on Wednesday.
The independent board, which some have dubbed Facebook’s “Supreme Court,” will be able to overturn Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s decisions on whether individual pieces of content should be allowed on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook has long faced criticism for a catalog of high-profile content moderation issues. They range from temporarily removing a famous Vietnam-era war photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack, to failing to combat hate speech targeting the Rohingya in Myanmar and other Muslims.
The oversight board will focus on a small slice of challenging content issues including hate speech and harassment and people’s safety.
Facebook said the board’s members have lived in 27 countries and speak at least 29 languages, though a quarter of the group and two of the four co-chairs are from the United States, where the company is headquartered.
The co-chairs, who selected the other members jointly with Facebook, are former U.S. federal circuit judge and religious freedom expert Michael McConnell, constitutional law expert Jamal Greene, Colombian attorney Catalina Botero-Marino and former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
Among the initial cohort are: former European Court of Human Rights judge András Sajó, Internet Sans Frontières Executive Director Julie Owono, Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, Australian internet governance researcher Nicolas Suzor, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, and Pakistani digital rights advocate Nighat Dad.
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, told Reuters in a Skype interview the board’s composition was important but that its credibility would be earned over time.
