Meta’s Oversight Board is spinning off a new appeals center to handle content disputes from European social media users on multiple platforms, marking a major pivot of the experimental court, which is empowered to investigate the company’s handling of controversial posts.
Funded with a one-time $15 million grant from the Oversight Board’s trust, the “Appeals Centre Europe,” will issue decisions on cases brought by Facebook, YouTube or TikTok users who contest the companies’ content moderation decisions.
The center, first reported by The Washington Post, will function under a sweeping European law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires tech companies to allow users to appeal restrictions on their accounts before an independent group of experts.
“I think this is really a game changer,” Appeals Centre Europe CEO Thomas Hughes said in an interview. “It could really drive platform accountability and transparency.”
The expansion arrives as Oversight Board, an independent collection of academics, experts and lawyers funded by Meta, has been seeking to expand its influence beyond the social media giant.
Launched in 2020 amid mass scrutiny of Meta’s business practices, the Oversight Board allowed the company to handoff contentious policy decisions to an outside body. But in recent years it faced criticism for moving too slowly. It has sought to reinvent itself, expanding its scope and taking on a larger and more significant caseload.
It has also tried for years to court other major internet companies, offering to help them referee debates about content on their platforms, The Post has reported.
It’s unclear how the new appeals center, which is a separate and independent effort, will affect the overall mission of the Oversight Board.
Oversight Board members and Oversight Board Trust Chairman Stephen Neal said in statements that both Appeals Centre Europe and the Oversight Board will play critical but complimentary roles in holding tech companies accountable for their decisions on content.
“Both entities are committed to improving user redress, transparency and upholding users rights online,” Neal said.
“Given the board’s unique experience in complex content moderation and free expression, we will continue to explore synergies between our work, the emerging regulatory environment and these new distinct models of user redress, including the Appeals Centre Europe,” the Oversight Board members said in a statement.
Hughes, who used to be the Oversight Board’s administration director, said he was “proud” of what the Oversight Board is accomplishing but it be different from what the Appeals Centre Europe is offering.
When Facebook, YouTube or TikTok removes a post, European social media users can appeal the decision to the Center. Users can also flag the center with posts they think violate the rules but were not removed.
While the Appeals Centre Europe’s decisions will be nonbinding, the group will generate data that could power decisions from regulators, civil society groups and the general public, Hughes said. By contrast, the Oversight Board’s decisions on Meta content are binding.
Users, who must live in the European Union, will pay 5 euros to appeal a case but the fee is refunded if they win. Tech companies will pay Appeals Centre Europe at least 90 euros per case, according to Hughes.
Though the Centre is funded by an initial grant from the Oversight Board’s trust, its future operating costs will be run using the platforms’ fees, Hughes added.
The new Appeals Centre Europe will have about two dozen staffers, with expertise in human rights, tech policy, or fluency in various languages, Hughes said.
YouTube didn’t respond to a request for comment. TikTok spokesman Paolo Ganino said in a statement the company looks forward “to working with the European Appeals Centre as they begin handling cases.”
Meta spokesman Corey Chamberliss said in a statement “while separate from the Oversight Board’s existing work,” the new appeals center “represents a natural evolution of the unique and valuable perspective they bring.”
“Meta remains committed to its existing day-to-day work with the Board as this new initiative gets underway,” he added.
The Oversight Board attracted widespread attention from civil society groups and news media outlets who covered its decisions, including its support of the ban of former president Donald Trump consistently.
But it has faced criticism from some academics and tech policy analysts who argue the group, which came with a hefty price tag, moves too slowly and issues too few consequential decisions with broad effects on the industry. Last year, the Oversight Board pledged to increase its speed, expediting some decisions and offering summary decisions. It completed more than 50 cases in 2023, surpassing previous years, and is on track to exceed that number in 2024.
The Oversight Board remains vulnerable to Meta’s willingness to fund it. After the tech company privately pressured the board to cut costs, the Oversight Board laid off some staffersthis year, The Post has reported. Earlier this year, Meta agreed to ensure the Oversight Board has an annual budget of $35 million through at least 2027 — a lower rate than the funding the group was awarded in previous years. In 2022, the social media giant awarded the Oversight Board trust $150 million, which followed an $130 million dollar donation in 2019.