By Evelyn M. Rusli
A Facebook experiment in democracy is fading.
On Wednesday the social network announced several updates to its governing policy that may ultimately limit the community’s ability to overturn future policy decisions. In a blog post authored by Elliot Schrage, its head of communications, Facebook said it will remove a voting system that gives its users the opportunity to strike down a policy change if a change prompts more than 7,000 comments and if more than 30% of people on Facebook participate in a vote.
In part, Facebook says it’s revising its rules because the social network has grown so large.
In October, the company hit a key milestone: one billion monthly active users. As it grows, the 7,000 comment threshold has become easier to surpass.
“We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality,” Schrage said.
In lieu of the old voting system, Facebook said it is planning to roll out several new feedback programs, including a forum where consumers can submit questions to the Chief Privacy Officer, Erin Egan, and live webcasts with Egan. The company also said it will send out e-mail notifications about the policy change to more than a billion users and provide a seven-day comment period, during which time the community can still push the proposal to a vote.
Facebook announced several other updates the day before Thanksgiving, including a change to the way consumers can filter private messages and one that will allow Facebook and its affiliates, such as Instagram, to share information.
Some privacy advocates, who have criticized Facebook in the past for being cavalier with consumers’ rights, remain skeptical. Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he was ambivalent about the loss of the current voting system since it required such a large portion of the community to vote. But he says he’s not sure if the new programs will be better.
“It is clear there is a new page where you can ask questions, what’s unclear is if it will be effective,” Opsahl said.
Readers, what do you think of Facebook’s proposal to remove its voting system?
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