The independent “supreme court” oversight board that has been tapped with handling Facebook’s trickiest moderation decisions accepted its first cases this week, and their content isn’t exactly surprising. According to reports, the group has accepted six cases involving Facebook’s hate speech rules, misinformation, and, of course, nudity.

Most of the cases involve users outside of the U.S., where Facebook has traditionally struggled more with policing language. Several of the cases also involve users who were punished for using hate speech despite the fact that they used it in order to criticize it. Five of the incidents were submitted by users, while another was submitted by Facebook itself. And while it’s encouraging that this long-promised group finally got off the ground, the cases that it accepted are a mere drop in the bucket of the 20,000 decisions that have been appealed since October.

Thankfully, at least one member of the five-member panel will be assigned based on the region of the case. Facebook has also promised to act on the board’s decisions within 90 days. Still, six cases hardly constitutes anything earth-shattering. Here’s hoping Facebook uses the board’s decisions to rule more widely and have a greater impact for its users.

Recommended Resources

The Choice of Tech Experts Worldwide. Try 90 days free of Bitdefender and experience the highest level of digital safety.

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!