Bengaluru's Sudhir Krishnaswamy appointed to Facebook's Oversight Board

Bengaluru's Sudhir Krishnaswamy has been appointed to Facebook's Oversight Board that will review and moderate content on Facebook and Instagram, referred by both users and Facebook.

Facebook, which has faced flak in many parts of the world over various issues, including data breaches, in 2018 announced plans to create an independent oversight board for content moderation in a transparent manner. The oversight board is to make final decisions regarding the kinds of posts known to embroil Facebook in controversy about censorship, misinformation or free speech.

The independent board, which some have dubbed Facebook's 'Supreme Court', will be able to overturn Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's decisions on whether individual pieces of content should be allowed on Facebook and Instagram, based on "respect for freedom of expression and human rights".

Facebook has long faced criticism for a catalog of high-profile content moderation issues. They range from temporarily removing a famous Vietnam-era war photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack, to failing to combat hate speech targeting the Rohingya in Myanmar and other Muslims.

The oversight board will focus on a small slice of challenging content issues, including hate speech, harassment and people's safety.

Krishnaswamy joins 19 other individuals, from more than 27 countries, who are former heads of state, former judges, journalists, former human rights rapporteurs, and other leaders with backgrounds in civil society, academia and public service.

Krishnaswamy said that nationality would not be a factor when it comes to his role on the Board. He said that while he was the only Indian on the Board so far, that would not affect the cases that are given to him.

"It's not like I decide only India cases, or that on every India case, I sit on the panel," he said, adding that all members are independent of Facebook and are not connected with the social media company.

"We want to enhance and preserve free speech, we also want to ensure that the dignity of all human beings is maintained," he said when asked about the focus of the Board.

Krishnaswamy, the only Indian on the Oversight Board, is the vice-chancellor of National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, and has co-founded the Centre for Law and Policy Research. He is currently a faculty member at Azim Premji University. His areas of interest and expertise include constitutional law, legal education, legal theory, intellectual property law and administrative law, political philosophy and politics in India, law and governance and legal system reform.

He graduated from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, and obtained a D.Phil. from Oxford University. He has been a Teaching Fellow in Law at the Pembroke College at Oxford University, an Assistant Professor at NLSIU and a professor at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.

In the past, Krishnaswamy also worked in the Prime Minister’s Committee on Infrastructure and the Kasturirangan Committee on Governance of Bangalore. Besides, he has authored a book titled Democracy and Constitutionalism in India, which was published by the Oxford University Press in 2009.

Here's the role of the Oversight Board:

- The Oversight Board offers a solution to increasingly complex and contentious debates about what types of content should and should not be permitted on Facebook and Instagram and who should decide.

- The Board will prioritise cases that potentially impact many users, are of critical importance to public discourse, or raise questions about Facebook’s policies.

- Decisions made by the Board must be implemented by Facebook, as long as they do not violate the law.

- Oversight Board Members are independent from the company, funded by an independent trust and cannot be removed by Facebook based on their decisions.

(With inputs from agencies)