Facebook has recently announced 20 names of its new oversight board members, sparking a lot of controversies, especially in the Middle East, as the Arabic-speaking name didn't win everyone's approval.
I’m proud of the diversity of Oversight Board Members For Facebook and Instagram, Our unique global perspectives across professional, cultural, political, and religious backgrounds and viewpoints are just as important as our work. pic.twitter.com/59RhcLIP96
— Tawakkol Karman (@TawakkolKarman) May 7, 2020
Journalists, politicians, and activists have been chosen by Facebook to review decisions in regard to removing content off the social media platform.
Yet, Facebook's choice of Yemeni Tawakkol Karman, a 2011 Nobel Prize laureate, has raised a lot of question marks among Arabic-speaking users of Twitter, who said that Facebook "shouldn't have chosen someone with clear Islamist affiliations."
Tawakkol Kerman to review and analyze our posts content and hereby record our rejection to this prejudice and to be evaluated by such politically biased person .
— Amr Shokr (@AmrShok04086107) May 8, 2020
Trust you will take this matter in a sense of seriousness.#توكل_كرمان#No_tawakkol_kerman pic.twitter.com/702BVkbLFY
Karman, whose name became well-known following the Yemeni 2011 uprising against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, has since been linked with the political agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Until 2018, she was a registered member at the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, an Islamist political party until her membership was suspended over her criticism of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. She has also been a vocal defendant of the Muslim Brotherhood's figures in Egypt.
#توكل_كرمان I absolutely refuse @TawakkolKarman to have any role or part in @Facebook content supervision in the Middle East or any other part of the World!
— THB (@THB010) May 9, 2020
She is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and does not accept the opinions of those who disagree with her.
Following Facebook's announcement, social media users launched an online campaign asking Facebook to revoke her membership in the Oversight Board, arguing that she's not the right person to make decisions over online content.
Some social media users also tweeted videos and images showing their Facebook accounts being removed in response to the network's decision.
تم الغاء وحذف الفيسبوك .. هذي افضل واحسن طريقة عن الف عريضة ... عندما تخسر ادارة الفيسبوك الاف وملايين المشتركين والاعضاء على منصتها سوف تتراجع صاغرة
— ??مكااااافح?? (@mUZR0HKpYL0Jjd9) May 10, 2020
Translation: "Facebook's account has been deleted and the app is now removed. This is the best response and it's better than a thousand petitions. Only when Facebook realizes it's lost millions of users, they will take their decision back."
Additionally, an online petition on Change.org has been able to attract more than 30k signatures so far.
