Alan Rusbridger says Oversight Board will ask to see Facebook's algorithm
Facebook’s Oversight Board is trying to gain access to the social network’s curation algorithm to understand how it works, according to Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian and a member of the quasi-independent body.
Rusbridger, who is one of 20 founding members of the Oversight Board, said the body intended to broaden its remit beyond simply assessing Facebook’s decisions to remove or retain content.
“We’re already a bit frustrated by just saying ‘take it down’ or ‘leave it up’,” Rusbridger told the House of Lords communications and digital committee on Tuesday.
“What happens if you want to make something less viral? What happens if you want to put up an interstitial? What happens if, without commenting on any high-profile current cases, you didn’t want to ban someone for life but wanted to put them in a ‘sin bin’ so that if they misbehave again you can chuck them off ?
“These are all things that the board may ask Facebook for in time. But we have to get our feet under the table first, and prove that we can do what we want. At some point we’re going to ask to see the algorithm, I feel sure, whatever that means. Whether we’ll understand when we see it is a different matter.”
Before the board would be able to examine the Facebook algorithm, Rusbridger suggested it would need to expand its numbers. Facebook selected the first 20 members, in conjunction with four co-chairs directly appointed by the social network. Now the board is in the process of finding another 20 board members without Facebook’s direct involvement.
“I think we need more technology people on the board who can give us independent advice from Facebook. Because it is going to be a very difficult thing to understand how this artificial intelligence works,” Rusbridger said.
“People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re on the board, but it’s well known that the algorithms reward emotional content that polarises communities because that makes it more addictive.’ Well I don’t know if that’s true or not, and as a board we’re going to have to get to grips with that. Even if that takes many sessions with coders talking very slowly so that we understand them, I think we need to understand what these machines are.”
Appearing alongside Rusbridger was legal academic Kate Klonick, who shadowed the board as it was set up. “The reason we’re talking about content moderation right now is that it’s started to happen to powerful people,” Klonick told the committee.
“We hear so much about Donald Trump and about high-profile actors that have been censored by Facebook, but there are thousands of people whose accounts have been taken down and the board is their last source to get it back from Facebook.
“When you decide to take down someone’s entire account, and to ban their speech, you really deprive them of their right to association and their right to live their lives.”