President Trump’s reelection campaign is trashing Facebook’s new oversight board for harboring anti-Trump bias.
Facebook last week revealed the first 20 members of its new oversight board, which has responsibility for content enforcement and governance on its platforms.
The board included Pamela Karlan, a Stanford University law professor who testified to Congress in support of impeachment charges against Mr. Trump.
“It’s disappointing to see Pamela Karlan — someone who has displayed her clear anti-Trump bias — appointed to what should be a non-partisan role on Facebook’s Oversight Board,” Sarah Matthews, Trump campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “Not to mention 75% of Facebook’s new censorship police are not American. Will this majority foreign board make decisions regarding U.S. election content?”
The board will make “final and binding decisions” on whether to permit content on Facebook and Instagram, per the board’s website. Approximately one-quarter of the board calls North America home, and two of the board’s four co-chairs are from the U.S.
Facebook plans to soon double the size of the 20-member board, which is organized as a limited liability company separate from Facebook with a $130 million trust fund provided by the social media giant.
“The Oversight Board was built to reflect Facebook’s global user base, but there are more members from the U.S. than any other country, including two of the four co-chairs,” said Thomas Hughes, director of the oversight board. “We’re proud of all our members, who reflect a broad range of political views and life experiences, and were chosen for their world-leading expertise and independent judgment.”
Ms. Karlan and Facebook did not respond to requests for comment on the Trump campaign’s statement.
During impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump, Ms. Karlan invoked the president’s teenage son, Barron, to argue that Mr. Trump acted as if he were a king.
“The president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” she joked. Ms. Karlan later apologized.
Ms. Karlan has been a donor for Mr. Trump’s political opponents.
She donated $1,000 to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2019 when the Massachusetts Democrat was seeking her party’s presidential nomination, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets database.
Ms. Karlan also contributed money to Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri in 2018 before the three Democrats each lost their reelection bids for the Senate.
The oversight board’s website detailed the steps the board will take to adjudicate cases in a manner it deems impartial. Appeals of Facebook and Instagram content policy decisions must be submitted to the board within 15 days of those company’s final decisions. The board estimates its reviews will take approximately 90 days to resolve a given case it chooses to examine.
All members of the board will have equal voting power and cases will be decided in panels. The panels’ decisions will then need to be approved by the board, which can choose to review a panel decision by a majority vote.
The oversight board represents the first entity resembling a judicial system at Facebook. Previously, Facebook explored the creation of a digital cryptocurrency, Libra, intended to be governed by a nonprofit organization. At an estimated 2.6 billion monthly active users, Facebook’s user base is nearly twice the size of the world’s most-populous country.
The oversight board has not yet begun hearing cases and will do so in the coming months, according to its website.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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