Facebook appoints ‘Free speech panel’

Facebook announced Wednesday the establishment of a new supervisory board which will include judges, journalists and academics, and determine the social media company’s free speech policy.

Among the 20 members of the new council are former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who will serve as co-chair along with retired U.S. federal judge Michael McConnell and two others.

The four co-chairs chose the other 16 council members to determine what the restrictions on freedom of expression on the social network would be and what users would be allowed to post.

The panel also includes former director general of the Israeli ministry of justice Emi Palmor.

“The cases we choose to hear may be contentious, and we will not please everyone with our decisions. Facebook and Instagram users come from all corners of the world, and the social or cultural context in which content is posted matters. We expect passionate discussion among members,” the panel said.

The council to set Facebook freedom of speech restrictions was first proposed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2018, as an attempt to escape the charges against Facebook’s leaders for restricting free speech on the social network. The council will be required to make free speech decisions and also respond to Facebook inquiries from surfers who dispute the flagging of their posts or user profiles.