Facebook's Oversight Board will have power to make final binding decisions on whether content stays up or comes down, which Facebook's team and Zuckerberg cannot overturn.

Judge when the Oversight Board started operating (by end of 2020). True: the board's charter and bylaws make its decisions on individual content cases binding on Facebook, and Facebook did not overturn any board decision on whether content stays up or comes down (implementing a decision in a covered case counts as complying). Mostly true: decisions were binding and complied with, but with a minor carve-out (e.g. an exception where compliance would break the law). Mixed: binding power existed, but Facebook significantly failed to implement or narrowed some content decisions. Mostly false: the board's case decisions were largely advisory or easily set aside. False: the board was not set up, or its decisions were not binding.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Our Work | Oversight Board The Oversight Board · 25 April 2024

   “When we come to a decision on a case, it is binding on Meta, unless implementing it could violate the law.”

2. E2 Oversight Board to Start Hearing Cases Facebook (about.fb.com newsroom) · 22 October 2020 Own record

   “Facebook has committed to enforcing the board’s decisions on individual pieces of content, and to carefully considering and transparently responding to any policy recommendations.”

3. E3 Responding to the Oversight Board’s First Decisions Facebook (about.fb.com newsroom) · 28 January 2021 Own record

   “We will implement these binding decisions in accordance with the bylaws and have already restored the content in three of the cases as mandated by the Oversight Board.”

4. E4 Establishing Structure and Governance for an Independent Oversight Board Facebook (about.fb.com newsroom) · 17 September 2019 Own record

   “Implementation: Facebook will promptly implement the board’s content decisions, which are binding.”

The Oversight Board describes its case decisions as binding on Meta, with one exception: when implementing a decision could violate the law (E1). Facebook's governance announcement says the board's content decisions are binding and that Facebook will promptly implement them (E4), and its October 2020 launch post says Facebook committed to enforcing the board's decisions on individual pieces of content (E2). Facebook's January 2021 response says it restored the content in three of the board's first cases, as the board required (E3), and none of the evidence shows Facebook overturning a decision. Because of the legal-compliance exception, this is a minor carve-out and fits "mostly true" rather than "true".