Facebook Oversight Board Begs for Crumbs in First Annual Report

Meta fully implemented less than a third of the Oversight Board recommendations

23 June — Today’s release of the Facebook Oversight Board’s first annual report is wishful thinking, begging Meta to be “more transparent.” The Oversight Board has been repeatedly ignored, lied to and embarrassed, and now is asking for unicorns and fantasies.

The Oversight Board was never established to be a real check on Meta, and they worked overtime in their first annual report to bury the lead: Facebook fully implemented less than a third of the Oversight Board recommendations.

The Oversight Board also doesn’t address its glaring lack of mandate for real oversight, as cases are assigned to them by the very company they oversee. They can’t jump in on major crises at Meta — the Oversight Board has been silent by design on the most pressing issues facing Facebook and its platforms.

We need real, independent, external oversight of Facebook and its platforms — not PR and obfuscation. The Oversight Board has had to resort to using their own Annual Report to ask Meta to be more transparent with them, a glaring reflection of their failure to be taken seriously by the company that birthed them.

Real Facebook Oversight Board members are available for interviews. Statements do not reflect the individual positions of all Real Facebook Oversight Board Members. Contact us at media@the-citizens.com.