Facebook Data Transparency Advisory Group Releases Final Report

On May 23, 2019, Facebook’s Data Transparency Advisory Group (DTAG) released its independent report, which assesses Facebook’s methods of measuring and reporting on its Community Standards enforcement policies. DTAG is chaired by Tracey L. Meares and Tom R. Tyler, who are the faculty directors of the Justice Collaboratory. DTAG is composed of seven experts from various disciplines who specialize in measurement and the role that metrics play in building legitimate, accountable institutions. Facebook chartered DTAG (a) to assess the metrics included in the first two versions of its Community Standards Enforcement Report, (b) to provide recommendations for how to improve its measurement and reporting practices, and (c) to produce a public report on its findings.

“The Justice Collaboratory’s work focuses on exploring empirically the ways in which people form trust in and come to conclusions about legitimacy of institutions. While most of our research focuses on criminal justice, we were excited to work with colleagues in DTAG from several disciplines to apply our ideas and methods to analyze Facebook’s Community Standards Enforcement Report,” said Tracey L. Meares.

DTAG is an independent advisory board, meaning its members are not employees of Facebook. As is standard for technology industry scientific advisory boards, the members of DTAG received financial compensation in the form of a pre-determined, fixed honorarium, paid prior to its assessment and reporting. Because DTAG’s compensation was paid in full before the report was written, it is not tied to any conclusions, assessments, or recommendations in the report. Decisions about whether and how to implement DTAG’s recommendations will be made by solely by Facebook.

Members of the DTAG are:

Ben Bradford, Professor, Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London

Florian Grisel, Research Fellow, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Reader in Transnational Law, King’s College London

Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Emily Owens, Professor, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, and Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine

Baron L. Pineda, Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies, Oberlin College

Jacob N. Shapiro, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

Tom R. Tyler, Macklin Fleming Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology, Yale Law School