Meta’s independent oversight board on Wednesday rebuked the company for scrapping the social-media giant’s fact-checking policy earlier this year – urging Mark Zuckerberg’s firm to assess “potential adverse effects.”
The board, which operates independently but is funded by Meta, cited concerns that the company had made the changes “hastily, in a departure from regular procedure, with no public information shared as to what, if any, prior human rights due diligence the company performed.”
It issued its first rulings on individual content cases since Zuckerberg in January, just a few weeks before President Trump’s inauguration, announced that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp would do away with their fact-checking teams.
In some cases, the board upheld Meta’s decisions to leave up controversial content, like posts discussing transgender peoples’ access to bathrooms.
At other times, it ordered the company to remove posts, including ones containing racist slurs.
Its comments put the board at odds with Meta’s chief executive, who has been trying to curry favor with President Trump.
In January, Zuckerberg claimed the content restrictions resulted in “too many mistakes and too much censorship.”
He ended the content restrictions and pivoted to a “Community Notes” model, much like social media platform X, which is run by fellow Trump ally Elon Musk. Musk has similarly argued that fact-checking teams and policies are a muzzle on free speech.
In his quest to buddy up to the incoming administration, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence just before Thanksgiving and donated $1 million to his inaugural fund.
But the 40-year-old tech tycoon has faced backlash for rolling back the content moderation policies, which aimed to tamp down misinformation and hate speech.
The rule change removed restrictions on referring to gay people as mentally ill and to women as “household objects or property.” It said it would focus on detecting content related to terrorism, child sexual exploitation and fraud.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson told The Post the company welcomed the board’s decisions “that leave up or restore content in the interest of promoting free expression on our platforms.” It did not address the board’s rulings that called for content to be taken down
Along with the ruling, the oversight board made 17 recommendations related to the rule change, calling on Meta to improve enforcement of its bullying and harassment policies, and clarify which ideologies are banned on its platforms.
It urged Meta to assess whether the changes could have “uneven consequences globally,” especially in countries experiencing crises like armed conflicts.
The board also asked Meta to track the efficiency of its new Community Notes program, and to disclose that data every six months.
Meta appears to remain committed to its oversight board, despite the reproach.
“We have no reason to think that Meta is soured on the board or planning to make any large scale structural changes in terms of its commitment with the board,” Paolo Carozza, the board’s co-chair, told Reuters.
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