Updates on Oversight Board Membership
April 5, 2023
Today we are announcing that 17 Board Members appointed in 2020, including our three Co-Chairs, have been renewed for a second term, which began on April 1, 2023. Other Members who joined the Board later will be eligible for renewal at the end of their first terms. With the completion of Board Members’ first terms, Meta is withdrawing from the selection process. Once the ongoing processes for selecting two new Board Members are complete, the Oversight Board will be solely responsible for the selection of all future Board Members.
Renewing Our Initial Board Members and Co-Chairs
The 17 Board Members, including three Co-Chairs, whose renewals we are announcing today make binding decisions on content as well as recommendations which are changing how Meta treats people on Facebook and Instagram. Members contract directly with the Oversight Board, are not Meta employees, and cannot be removed by the company.
As set out in our Bylaws, Board Members can serve a maximum of nine years (three terms) with the Oversight Board, while Co-Chairs can serve a maximum of six years (two terms) in their capacity as co-chairs. In accordance with the Bylaws, the Membership Committee, made up of a rotating subset of Board Members, oversaw the process for Board Member reviews and renewals. Co-Chairs’ renewals were confirmed by the other Board Members. Meta was not involved in the processes for renewing Board Members or Co-Chairs.
Evelyn Aswad Appointed Oversight Board Co-Chair
The departure of Jamal Greene in January 2023 left a vacant post among the Oversight Board Co-Chairs. Today, we are announcing that current Board Member Evelyn Aswad has been appointed to serve as a Co-Chair. Evelyn was appointed by our existing Co-Chairs Catalina Botero-Marino, Michael McConnell, and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, with support from Board Members. Meta was not involved in Evelyn’s appointment. Evelyn’s expertise in international human rights law, and her work to date in supporting the Board has been vital to the Board’s success, and we congratulate her on this new role.
Maina Kiai Steps Down From the Board
Today we are also announcing that one of our original Board Members, Maina Kiai, has decided to step down from the Board to focus on other projects. Maina, who will continue to work with the Board until the summer, joined the Board at its inception and helped develop the Board into what it is today. We are grateful to Maina for his contributions to the Board during the last three years and wish him the best for the future.
Appointing New Board Members in 2023
As a Board, we are constantly learning and changing our approach in response to practical experience. While we originally expected the Board to reach 40 Members, three years of operations has shown us that, in practice, the optimal number of Members allowing for timely, regular, and effective deliberation and decision-making, is 26. For the short run we have decided that we will operate with 26 members but may change the number of members in the future if we believe it will add operational value. We have informed Meta of our decision and explained that 26 members allows us to operate sufficient panels and committees while also having operational flexibility for a member being unavailable due to illness or other reasons.
While Meta and the Board worked together to select our initial Board Members, with the completion of Members’ first terms, Meta will be withdrawing from the selection process (as provided for in our Bylaws). Once the ongoing process for selecting an additional two new Board Members is complete, the Oversight Board will be solely responsible for the selection of all future Board Members — which is already the case for replacing Board Members who have resigned. Our Co-Chairs, Board Members, and Trustees have appreciated the support Meta has provided to the selection process.
What’s Next
We plan to appoint additional Board Members over the coming months and we will announce the new Members publicly on the ‘news’ section of the Oversight Board website. As we continue our case work in 2023, we intend to review more cases and to do so faster.
