The Meta Oversight Board is expanding its scope to include Threads. The group announced that Threads users will now be able to appeal Meta's content moderation decisions, giving the independent group the ability to influence the policies of Meta's newest app.
It's a notable expansion for the Oversight Board, which until now has weighed in on content moderation issues related to Facebook and Instagram posts. “Having independent accountability from the beginning for a new app like Threads is vitally important,” board co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt said in a statement.
According to the Oversight Board, user appeals on Threads will work similarly to how they do on Instagram and Facebook. When users have “exhausted” Meta's internal process, they may request a review from the Oversight Board. Under rules established when the board was formed, Meta must implement the board's decisions regarding specific positions, but is not required to follow its policy recommendations.
Adding Threads content moderation to the board's purview underscores the growing influence of the Twitter-like app that launched last summer. Threads has already grown to 130 million users and Mark Zuckerberg believes it could one day reach 1 billion users.
Officially, Threads has the same rules as Instagram. But Meta has already encountered some opposition from users over its policies for recommending content. Threads are currently searching for terms related to COVID-19 and other “potentially sensitive” topics. The company also raised eyebrows when it said last week that it would not recommend accounts that post too much unless users choose to accept such suggestions.
Regardless of whether the board ends up weighing in on those options, it will likely be some time before Threads users see any changes as a result of the board's recommendations. The Oversight Board only accepts a small fraction of user appeals, and it may take several weeks or months for the group to make a decision, and many more months for Meta to change any of its rules as a result of the guidance. (The board may, in some cases, complete the process.)
