Emi Palmor had set up a cyber unit in charge of monitoring and censoring Palestinian social media posts, on the orders of the extreme right-wing minister Ayelet Shaked.

The Oversight Board is the kind of thing the digital giants adore as a way of getting people to talk about something other than their astronomical profits. Thus it was that Facebook announced on 6 May the establishment of a body which is supposed to root out "hateful, harmful and deceitful" content. The Board will have a mandate to take "final and binding decisions on whether specific content should be allowed or removed" from Facebook and also Instagram, which is owned by Zuckerberg's group.

The Board is independent from Facebook but 100% financed by a trust fund set up by the multinational and endowed with $130m. It could rule on a demand by a user to see some content removed, or by another appealing against the removal of a post by the Facebook moderators. The body could also make "recommendations" on what type of publication should be taken down.