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Panel Description:
This panel will take stock of the work of the Oversight Board since the announcement of its first members in May 2020. Panelists will critically reflect on the development of the Board over its first year and consider its future evolution. They will address such issues as: the constituency of the Board’s membership; the choice of cases accepted by the Board for review; the nature and significance of the decisions and policy recommendations issued; the impact of public comments upon the Board’s outputs; the effectiveness of the implementation of the Board’s decisions and policy recommendations by Facebook and Instagram; the Board’s approach to public engagement; and the role of the Board’s Administration.
Panelists will offer an assessment of the Board’s initial phase by responding to such questions as: How far is the Board achieving its stated purpose of promoting ‘free expression by making principled, independent decisions regarding content’? What are the challenges facing the Board in reaching its purpose, and how those might be addressed? To what extent is the Board being clearly guided by international human rights standards and principles in its decisions and policy recommendations? What lessons can be drawn from the Board’s first year, by the Board but also other platforms? And, to what extent does the Board present a model of self-regulation that may be replicated or adapted and applied by other platforms?
Speakers
- Jillian York, Director of International Freedom of Expression, EFF
- Sejal Parmar, Lecturer in International Human Rights Law, School of Law, University of Sheffield
- Evelyn Douek, Lecturer on Law and SJD Candidate, Harvard Law School
- Gayatri Khandhadai, Lawyer, APC
- Julie Owono, Director, Internet Sans Frontieres
