Facebook has long struggled to make consistent content moderation decisions, and it can often leave users angry or confused as to why their posts were taken down. That’s why the social media giant created its independent Oversight Board, a collection of experts who rule on Facebook’s most controversial content moderation decisions. And according to the Board, it has been extremely busy fielding user complaints. Last year, the Board received almost 1.3 million appeals, which breaks down to roughly 3,500 cases a day, or one every 24 seconds.

According to the Oversight Board’s annual report, 2022 saw a 25 percent increase in the number of appeals it received, and two-thirds of these were focused on Facebook’s rules regarding violence/incitement and hate speech. The Oversight Board also said that it overturns a large amount of Facebook’s decisions, proving that it’s a helpful tool for users to understand the inner workings of the company.

“By publicly making these recommendations, and publicly monitoring Meta’s responses and implementation, we have opened a space for transparent dialogue with the company that did not previously exist,” the Oversight Board said.

While this is still far from a perfect system, at least there’s a method in place for users to challenge Facebook’s decision-making process.

Recommended Resources

Choose what the experts use: award-winning cybersecurity you can trust and rely on.

Surf the web truly incognito. Try Bitdefender Premium VPN, the ultra-fast VPN that keeps your online identity and activities safe from hackers, ISPs and snoops.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!