Oversight Board Continues to Whitewash, Spin Its Flagging Impact In Annual Report; Summary Buries the Lede: 14.1% of Recommendations Actually Implemented by Meta

6 June — Facebook’s Oversight Board today released its 2022 annual report, spinning Meta’s PR stunt as a success when the reality is anything but.

• Since its founding, only 27 of 191 recommendations have been fully implemented by Meta, and only 41 partially or fully implemented.
• The Oversight’s Biggest Decision has already been rendered pointless — the much ballyhooed “Trump Ban” is already over, with former President Trump re-platformed.
• The Oversight Board touts its work on the Israel/Palestine human rights assessment, but has stayed silent on Meta’s refusal to release its Independent Human Rights Assessment of India, and on Meta’s whistleblower lawsuits in Kenya. This is a stain on the record of any so-called human rights activist on the Oversight Board.

Most tellingly, Meta and its platforms continue to be a cesspool of disinformation, hate speech, conspiracy theories, scams, and criminal activities (e.g., human trafficking). The OB has had zero impact on these serious harms committed by or on by Meta. The summary suggests most of the actions Meta took in response to the Oversight Board actually benefit Meta more than users, e.g., explanations of why content was removed.

This is more spin from a $150m in-house moderation service. Meta needs real, independent, external oversight, now.

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.