“Newsworthiness,” Trump, and the Facebook Oversight Board

THE FACEBOOK OVERSIGHT BOARD, a company-appointed body tasked with making content moderation decisions, is modeled on the American courtroom. The board aspires to objective standards and delivers irreversible judgments; borrowing legal vocabulary, it speaks of “appeals” and “eligible cases” and promises to issue explanations styled in the manner of judicial opinions. In the case of Donald Trump’s suspension from Facebook, soon to be decided, the board will evaluate a key concept from American jurisprudence and journalism: “newsworthiness.” The term is due for an update.