Ten thoughts on today's decisions by the Facebook Oversight Board:
1. The Oversight Board is actually up and running and functional. This was not a forgone conclusion. Whatever its decisions, it is the beginning of an experiment that will affect the future of speech on line.

2.The results in these decisions are less important than the signals/precedent set for how the board will operate, how it considers its jurisdiction, what info about FB and its posts will be revealed in the decisions, and how ambitious the Board will be in checking Facebook.

3.The absence of signed opinions, the noting of minority views but not extensive dissents, the significant use of experts, the willingness to issue advisory opinions on policy – all are precedent setting as to how the Board (and public) will view its role.

4The considerable reliance on international human rights standards gives us a sense of the body of law that will govern. Not a foregone conclusion & is bound to trigger some conservative reaction in the US as int'l standards are not as speech protective as the 1st Amendment.

5.However, the fact that the Oversight Board overturned four of the five takedowns gives us a sense that it is likely to take more libertarian and speech-protective positions than Facebook.