House Commerce Committee Leaders Urge Facebook Oversight Board to Pressure to Change Harmful Policies

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) voiced concern that Facebook’s new Oversight Board does not have the power it needs to change Facebook’s harmful policies. In letters to the 20 Board Members, the three Committee leaders encouraged the newly appointed members to exert pressure on Facebook to listen to and act upon their policy recommendations, something that is not currently included in the Board Members’ overall responsibilities. The three Committee leaders wrote that the public interest should be the Oversight Board’s priority and that it should not be influenced by the profit motives of Facebook executives. Pallone, Doyle and Schakowsky also requested the board members answer a series of questions in the coming weeks.