Thomas Hughes, Director of the Independent Supervisory Board, which is concerned with following up on the content of the social networking site Facebook, said that the council is on its way to obtain "more powers" during the next few months, in order to be able to determine the type of content allowed to circulate on the social networking site.
The Council is examining the return of former US President Donald Trump's Facebook account, but the American Poltico magazine said that the decision to return is still shrouded in ambiguity.
"The board is in talks with Facebook to obtain more powers to review potentially harmful materials that remain on the platform, as well as to separate accounts that were suspended for breaching the company's standards," Hughes told the American magazine on Friday.
At present, the oversight board can only review content that has already been removed from Facebook, as well as when a company refers cases involving suspended accounts to the outside agency.
"Facebook has indicated that they intend to increase the powers of the board," Hughes said, adding that changes will come over the next few months.
Critics of the censorship board question its independence from Facebook because the company has provided $ 130 million in the agency’s operating costs, and others have raised doubts about why the board should negotiate with the company to gain greater powers to review content that remains on the platform.
Damian Collins, the British legislator, said: "The Oversight Board's rules mean they cannot recommend changes to Facebook's terms and conditions ... what we see is of limited scope."
Hughes, for his part, insisted that the group demonstrated its independence in its early decisions. So far, the commission has ruled against Facebook in five of the first six cases, and has refused to comment on Trump's upcoming case, which may be announced by late March.
The censorship board received thousands of outside comments about returning the former US president to his Facebook account. The social network removed Trump after his posts about the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill, and the issue focuses on whether Trump, as a political leader, should be treated. Differently to other Facebook users when posting online.
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