Who watches the watchers?

摘要

Faced with the threat of increased government regulation (see main story), big tech companies often argue that self-regulation is a better answer. Yet two of the biggest tech titans, Facebook and Google, have both faced issues in recent months with internal systems of checks and balances they have set up. Facebook's introduction of a board of outside figures paid to review contentious decisions about content on its Facebook or Instagram services has received a mixed response. In January, its newly constituted Oversight Board ruled on five decisions the company had taken to ban individual posts on grounds ranging from hate speech to adult nudity. It found Facebook had misstepped in four instances, and proposed nine recommendations for the company to improve its policies. But the activist-led Real Facebook Oversight Board called the decisions "oversight theatre", criticising the lack of transparency in how they were reached and saying they would do little to address the spread of hate speech and disinformation. "Facebook desperately needs oversight," it said. "This is not it."