Social media managers cannot tolerate all speech on their platforms. They are obligated to maximize value for their shareholders. Leaving some kinds of speech on a platform would drive some users away. So social media managers establish rules intended to maximize the number of users. Managers also hire content moderators to enforce the rules. Users that get thrown off have no complaint. When they joined the platform, they agreed to the rules and to how they are enforced. End of story.
Except it’s not the end of the story. Social media managers do not seem to believe that mutual consent to rules and their application is enough to make content moderation legitimate. For present purposes, I simply accept this belief; we need not inquire into its validity. If consent is not enough, social media need other justifications for legitimacy. Some social media managers embraced a judicial model: due process would foster legitimacy. For example, Facebook instituted written rules whose enforcement could be ultimately appealed to an Oversight Board (OSB).
How might an appeals process be legitimate? The Charter, Bylaws, and Code of Conduct for OSB members mention the words “independent” or “independence” 28 times. Here are a few examples. The OSB is established by “an independent, irrevocable trust” which oversees administrative matters. The purpose of the OSB “is to protect free expression by making principled, independent decisions about important pieces of content…” OSB members are required to “exercise neutral, independent judgment and render decisions impartially.” Moreover, OSB members “must not have actual or perceived conflicts of interest that could compromise their independent judgment and decision‐making.” The Bylaws say members “will exercise neutral, independent judgment and render decisions impartially.”
The adjective independent has many meanings. The most relevant here is “not subject to control by others.” Many fear social media content moderation will be dependent on tech companies’ financial priorities. The more successful social media are (and will be) owned by their shareholders. Their managers will have a duty to maximize value for those shareholders. What’s wrong with that? Critics say profit maximizing leads social media to tolerate speech that harms others. Social media seek to engage users and keep them on a platform, thereby maximizing revenue. Critics assert, however, that some speech that harms others also engages users. Social media can protect users only by failing to maximize revenue. In this way, it is argued, privately‐owned social media are thought to face a potential conflict between their obligations to their shareholders and the independence of their content moderation (including an appeals process).
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