Facebook’s Independent Oversight Board on
Tuesday announced that it was starting to accept requests in order to remove ‘harmful
content’ from the social site on the basis of whatever the users believed where
wrongly allowed to remain on the social media network, reported AFP.

The Oversight Board, seemingly the ‘Supreme
Court’ under the tech institution, had, till now, been allowed to take
decisions on only the content that was taken down from Facebook and Instagram.

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The board issued its first ruling in January,
2021 after Facebook established it last year seemingly as a counter to the rise
of questions concerning content moderation.

The decisions of the board, which
overrule decisions taken by the Facebook management, are binding.

“Enabling users to appeal content
they want to see removed from Facebook is a significant expansion of the
Oversight Board’s capabilities.

The Board was created to ensure that
fewer decisions about highly significant content issues be taken by Facebook
alone, and that better decisions can be delivered through an independent and
transparent process that works to safeguard human rights and freedom of
expression. Today’s announcement is another step towards realizing this”, AFP
quoted Thomas Hughes, Director of the Oversight Board administration, as saying.

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Users who feel that harmful posts,
photos, videos, comments and shares are still left unremoved would be able to
appeal to the panel to get the said content cleared up, for which the board
would reportedly set up a process including privacy protection for users
wanting a certain piece of content taken down.