Facebook users will now be able to ask the company's independent oversight board to rule on content that has been left up on the platform, not just content that has been taken down, in a key expansion of the panel's scope.

Facebook Inc created the board in response to criticism of its handling of problematic content, but researchers and civil rights groups have faulted it for its limited remit.

Before this change, Facebook and Instagram users who had exhausted the appeals process could send cases of removed content to the board - but only the company itself could ask the board to review content left up on the platforms.