Meta's Oversight Board sounds pretty blindsided by Zuckerberg's fact-check ending decree
The board decried the fact that the changes were "announced hastily, in a departure from regular procedure."
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
At least some of Meta’s own were as appalled as the rest of us when Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was doing away with fact-checking in an asinine attempt to “restore free expression” back in January. While it’s not quite “Sorry, my Prada’s at the cleaners,” the company’s Oversight Board—the body in charge of issuing decisions concerning the removal of Meta content—derided Zuckerberg’s decree as being “announced 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” in a lengthy blog post today.
It’s a pretty stunning stance for the board to take, considering how many companies have rolled over and capitulated to the same sort of pressure in recent months. Meta has poured over $200 million into funding the 21-member body since its formation in 2020, TheWrap reports, so it presumably has some real sway. It also intimately understands just how far Zuckerberg has strayed from his previously stated goals. “The Board calls on Meta to live up to its public commitment to uphold the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” it continued in its post, specifically calling on the company to assess the updated policy’s “potential adverse effects on Global Majority countries, LGBTQIA+ people, including minors, and immigrants, updating the Board on its progress every six months, and reporting publicly on this soon.”