The much-derided Facebook Oversight Board, which upheld the politically-motivated blacklisting of Donald Trump last year, has offered to “help” Twitter decide on new content moderation rules. The so-called Supreme Court of Facebook is packed with leftists that hate free speech.
In a tweet, the official account of the Oversight Board said it would “welcome the opportunity” to discuss the establishment of independent content moderation oversight at Twitter.
Independent oversight of content moderation has a vital role to play in building trust in platforms and ensuring users are treated fairly. This is a model we have been proving since 2020. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss Twitter's plans in more detail with the company. https://t.co/5EwIps748m
— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) October 28, 2022
“Independent oversight of content moderation has a vital role to play in building trust in platforms and ensuring users are treated fairly. This is a model we have been proving since 2020. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss Twitter’s plans in more detail with the company.”
Mark Zuckerberg surrounded by guards ( Chip Somodevilla /Getty)
The Oversight Board made its comment after Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, said he would assemble a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints” to consider major account reinstatements and changes to content policies.
In follow-up tweets, however, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO seemed to display second thoughts about the idea.
Good point.
Being able to select which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating.
The rating of the tweet itself could be self-selected, then modified by user feedback.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022
Responding to Amjad Masad, CEO of the software development platform Replit, who pointed out that Facebook’s Oversight Board pleased no-one, Musk said he preferred giving uses maximum choice over content.
“Being able to select which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating,” said Musk.
“The rating of the tweet itself could be self-selected, then modified by user feedback.”
Near-total user control over content filtering used to be the industry norm, with the block button being the tool of choice for users who wished to avoid unwelcome comments, while features like Google’s “safe search” allowed users to experience a family-friendly version of the world’s largest search engine.
That changed in the mid-2010s, when in response to pressure from the media and left-wing advocacy groups, social media platforms including Twitter began to shift to a top-down model of content moderation, with a single algorithm and a single experience imposed on all users.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
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