The Real Facebook Oversight Board
Around the world Facebook is being used to subvert elections, fuel hate speech and spread disinformation. In 2020 the Citizens brought together a group of global academics, lawyers, journalists and civil rights campaigners to hold the tech giant to account
The Real Facebook Oversight Board is calling for independent, external oversight and regulation of Facebook and its platforms now, to protect its users and global democracy.
We have three demands of Facebook:
- Fix the algorithm, to prioritise credible news and information and to downrank hate and disinformation.
- Make an equal and adequate investment in non-English content moderation.
- Let academic researchers back in, allowing outside independent scholars to monitor Facebook’s content around the 2022 elections and beyond.
Our members
The Real Facebook Oversight Board is a diverse global coalition of the most dynamic, creative and critical voices today in civil rights, human rights, social media policy, disinformation research, extremism and the role of social media in society.
Real Facebook Oversight Board Members
Jonathan GreenblattCEO of the Anti-Defamation League
Laurence H TribeLegal scholar & Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard
Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & cybersecurity expert
Phumzile van DammeMember of Grand Committee on Disinformation & former MP, South Africa
Rana AyyubInvestigative journalist & global opinions editor, The Washington Post
Htaike Htaike AungExecutive Director at Myanmar ICT for Development Organization
Shoshana ZuboffProfessor Emerita at Harvard Business School & author of Surveillance Capitalism
Evan BalgordGlobal Journalism Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs
Derrick JohnsonLawyer & humanitarian. President & CEO of the NAACP
Manuel BeltranFounder of the Institute of Human Obsolescence
Roger McNameeInvestor & Mark Zuckerberg’s former mentor. Author of Zucked
Ruha BenjaminProfessor of African American Studies, Princeton University
Shireen MitchellFounder of Digital Sistas & Stop Online Violence Against Women
Linda BonyoFounding director, African Law Tech & CEO of Lawyers Hub Kenya
Safiya NobleWriter & Associate Professor at UCLA. Author of Algorithms of Oppression
Carole CadwalladrInvestigative journalist at the Guardian. Founder of the Citizens
Fadi QuranCampaigns Director, Avaaz
David CarrollAssociate professor of media design, Parsons School of Design
Nayantara RanganathanLawyer & researcher studying the politics & culture of digital technologies
Kate CoyerFellow & teacher, Center for Media, Data and Society, Central European University
Steve RenderosExecutive Director of MediaJustice
Damian CollinsConservative MP & former chair of International Grand Committee on Disinformation
Maria RessaJournalist & founder of Rappler. 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joan DonovanResearch director, Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center
Matt RivitzCo-founder of Sleeping Giants
Laura EdelsonPhD candidate in computer science at New York University
Rashad RobinsonCivil rights leader & President of Color of Change
Yael EisenstatAnti-Defamation League Vice President, Center for Technology & Society
Marietje SchaakeInternational Director of Policy at the Cyber Policy Center, Stanford
Bharath GaneshAssistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Groningen
Timothy SnyderHistorian & professor of history at Yale University
Jessica GonzalezCo-CEO of Free Press & member of StopHateForProfit coalition
Jim SteyerFounder of Common Sense Media. Expert in online harms to children
Our research
The Real Facebook Oversight Board partners with leading social media researchers and experts, producing Quarterly Harms Reports summarising the global impact of Facebook each quarter.
Real Facebook Oversight Board: Quarterly Harms Reports
July 2023: Meta’s Big Quarter Platforming Pedophiles And Cutting Election Safeguards
Concurrent with Meta’s shareholder earnings call for the second quarter, we release our Quarterly Harms Report that shows how Meta is platforming pedophiles, peddling disinformation, and cutting election safeguards. Full report here.
April 2023: Meta Helps Anti-Abortion Extremists Target Women
As Meta announces its First Quarter results, we highlight how it has been a hub for disinformation about abortion rights, and the reckless invasions of women’s privacy across platforms. It has also reinstated former US President Donald Trump showing the irrelevance of Meta’s Oversight Board, whose breathless “ban” of the former President was never a ban – just disinformation delayed. Read full report
October 2022: Facebook shareholders investing in disinformation and deceit
As Facebook tallies its Q1 dollars, Facebook shareholders have made a sizable investment in disinformation, destabilization, deceit and denial. Read full report
April 2022: Facebook Failing in Ukraine
In our quarterly harms report covering Q1 2022, research from RFOB and global civic organisation Avaaz showed that Facebook failed to slow a torrent of disinformation about the War in Ukraine, endangering refugees and threatening to destabilise the global effort to slow Russia’s invasion. Read full report
January 2022: New Research Shows Facebook Enabling Insurrection in Brazil
Partnered with global civic organisation Avaaz, the Real Facebook Oversight Board warned that Brazil is at increased risk of a “January 6th-like event fomented on Facebook,” with Facebook failing to learn from or correct errors from the US insurrection that could put the results of Brazil’s October 2nd election in peril. Read full report
October 2021: New Data Shows Climate Misinformation Rampant on Facebook
Ahead of COP26, our partnership with Stop Funding Heat showed 1.3m daily views of climate disinformation. The report was paired with a massive melting ice sculpture at the US Capitol. Read full report
July 2021: Message to Shareholders: Facebook Disinformation Kills
Research Shows 83% of #1 Facebook Posts In Q2 Came From Disinformation Superspreaders. In a partnership with Sum of Us using data from Center for Countering Digital Hate, the quarterly report – paired with a drop of body bags at the Facebook Headquarters – showed the extent to which disinformation on Facebook is harming the global response to COVID. Read full report
Tech Breakdown
Tech Breakdown is a brand new series by the Real Facebook Oversight Board – bringing to you the latest debates on technology, specifically the social media space. Our brain trust members join journalist Manasa Narayanan as they talk about everything tech, from the micro to the macro: algorithms, networks, platforms, systems, but also solutions, and the philosophies underpinning it all.
Emergency sessions
The Real Facebook Oversight Board convenes the world’s leading experts on disinformation and online hate, and creates space for frontline advocates impacted by Facebook’s platforms to share their stories. Here are some of our recent emergency sessions:
Real Facebook Oversight Board in the media
Join our team
Are you a student with an interest in holding Big Tech to account? The Real Facebook Oversight Board regularly hires interns. Our application period for Summer 2023 is now closed.
Contact us
For interviews with RFOB members and media inquiries please email media@the-citizens.com.