Facebook faces flak over naming activists, Brotherhood supporter in Oversight Board

Facebook recently released the list of the first 20 members of its new content Oversight Board that has the power to overturn the decisions taken by the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself. According to the social media company, the board members have lived in over 20 countries, can speak at least 29 languages, and have raised questions related to human rights, legal system, and free expression. However, Facebook appointing a number of human rights activists to censor its content has raised a number of debatable questions in the global discourse.

The company has come under public attack after it named Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman as one of the members of the oversight board. As per media reports, she has links with the Muslim Brotherhood and in several instances has expressed her support to the terror organization, which has ties with Al Qaeda. Apart from Karman, other members include Pakistani digital rights activist Nighat Dad and Kenyan human rights activists Maina Kiai.

A coalition of more than 60 conservative organizations also raised concerns stating that the Facebook Oversight Board majority consists of leftists, mainstream media figures, and those with ties to globalist George Soros. Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei, working as a program manager at the Open Society Initiative, which is a part of radical billionaire George Soros's global empire of NGOs has been appointed to the board. While it is unclear if she will be resigning from his post at the OSI, it can be assumed that Soros will be able to control a seat at the Facebook Oversight Board.

A lack of representation from conservative media has also drawn flak from Conservative Party MPs in the United Kingdom after former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, was appointed to the board. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Denmark PM for the left-wing Social Democrat party has also been named as part of the board.

The new oversight body, which is colloquially known as the “Facebook Supreme Court", includes four chairs: Stanford Law School Professor Michael McConnell, Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Dean of the Universidad de Los Andes Faculty of Law Catalina Botero-Marino and Columbia Law School Professor Jamal Greene. Full list of Facebook Oversight Board members

The agenda of the oversight board, working independently from Facebook Inc, caters to challenging content-relating issues such as public safety and hate speech. The social media giant has pledged $130 million funding for at least six years to the board such that it can take binding decisions on controversial matters for Facebook and Instagram.