Facebook Oversight Board member warns against excessive social media regulation

Heavy-handed regulation is not the answer to the social media industry’s problems, a associate of Facebook’s incoming Oversight Board said Friday.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, one of four co-chairs of the independent body set up by Facebook to scrutiny its content moderation, warned that an aggressive regulatory approach could infringe freedom of speech.

“If regulation turn attention ti too heavy, it actually will impact freedom of speech very heavily,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Friday. “I suppose in regulation, I believe that politics has to play a role.”

She added: “I also think we have to be a little bit careful than upright demanding regulation, because at some point it will just tip over and be a regulation on our freedom of speech, and I don’t think any of us desire that.”

She used the example of an internet shutdown that occurred last month in Belarus following the country’s choosing results, in which longstanding President Alexander Lukashenko declared a landslide victory. The situation drew international condemnation, with the EU sinister sanctions on Belarusian officials for violence, repression and election fraud.

Before joining the Oversight Board, Thorning-Schmidt was the prime upon of Denmark, and was the first woman to hold the post. She was named as one of the initial members of the group in May.

First announced by Facebook upon someone in November 2018, the board will have the power to overrule even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on whether to cross out controversial posts. It will govern appeals from Facebook and Instagram users, and questions from Facebook itself.

Setting aside how, the board is not yet operational, and in July said that it wouldn’t be until late Fall. Other members of the board take in Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper, and Andras Sajo, a former judge and VP of the European Court of Forgiving Rights.

The board’s establishment couldn’t be more timely. Facebook has faced intense backlash from civil rights classifies and advertisers this year over its handling of hateful content and disinformation on the platform. On Thursday, the company announced it intent ban new political ads a week before the 2020 U.S. election.

“I do think it’s obvious to most people that we can’t carry on in a world where it’s basically Facebook and in the final Mark Zuckerberg who takes decisions on what content gets removed or stays up,” said Thorning-Schmidt.

“It might not be standard and it might be a small step, but it is a step in the right direction to finally have an independent board, an oversight board, that can swallow these decisions.”

For its part, Facebook has supported the establishment of such an independent body and even welcomed the prospect of diverse internet regulation. At the same time, the company has railed against new regulation in Australia that would force it to pay bulletin publishers for content, threatening to block news in the country. Google has also criticized the proposals.