The Facebook Oversight Board dramatically expanded its powers today by inviting Facebook and Instagram users to appeal to have content removed from the platforms, rather than just appeal to have content restored after it has already been taken down.
The decision-making process for content removal will be about the same as the one for content restoration. Among the Oversight Board's first eight decisions, the group has overturned six of Facebook's removals and upheld two. The Board will also have to soon reach a decision about whether or not to overturn Facebook's decision to ban former President Trump from the platform, after the company referred the decision to the Board in January.
One of the original 20 board members, former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, has already suggested that the Board needs more power than just the ability to overturn or uphold content removals, and that board members are frustrated by the "take it down or leave it up" paradigm.