The Oversight Board

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I saw this as an opportunity to bring the attention of the platforms on things that they pretend they don't see. And we should have more groups doing that everywhere in the world, and particularly in africa and the global south in general. The oversight board is a small thing, far removed from all those many places. We're 20 at the moment, and will be forty when things are completely ready. So it's a way to bring in a bit of checks and balances to that whole arbitrary, discretionary we decide what tree expression is thing i really hope it's not going to be. I think there's always some one who can call you out when you're going into directions that are not

This summer, Facebook unveiled “2Africa,” a subsea cable project that will encircle nearly the entire continent of Africa — much to the surprise of Julie Owono. As Executive Director of Internet Without Borders, she’s seen how quickly projects like this can become enmeshed in local politics, as private companies dig through territorial waters, negotiate with local officials and gradually assume responsibility over vital pieces of national infrastructure. “It’s critical, now, that communities have a seat at the table,” Julie says. We ask her about the risks of tech companies leading us into an age of “digital colonialism,” and what she hopes to achieve as a newly appointed member of Facebook’s Oversight Board.