Torrent of Litigation, Disinformation Make Meta A Growing Risk for Shareholders in Q4 Full of Harms
1 February 2023 — The Real Facebook Oversight Board issued the following statement for attribution ahead of Meta’s Q4 2022 earnings calls today -
Eyes will be on Meta’s profits today, but what about Meta’s social impact? For Meta shareholders and global democracy, the real costs of Q4 2022 aren’t in dollars. Meta’s Q4 was defined by hidden and potentially breakthrough legislation that puts shareholders at risk, and by a flood of disinformation that corroded global democracy.
Meta’s Q4 harms and highlights included -
- A torrent of litigation, from Delaware to California that continues to put the company on the record — including a $700m suit Meta is desperately trying to settle.
- Revelations discovered by the Real Facebook Oversight Board showing Mark Zuckerberg may have misled Congress about Cambridge Analytica, and knew far more about the scandal than previously acknowledged.
- $275m in fines from the EU for violating data privacy
- A $1.6b lawsuit filed against Meta for fueling ethnic violence in Ethiopia
- A failure to stop advertisements threatening election workers in the leadup to the 2022 election — including death threats. Meta failed to detect 75% of all threats.
Meta, of course, was just gearing up for a big January, where shareholders investments helped fuel an attempted insurrection in Brazil and a dangerous re-platforming of former President Trump on its platforms. Meta’s own most recent accounting of recently viewed content in November showed a continued proliferation of extreme and low-quality news sources.
“Investing in Meta in 2023 is complicity — its a continued countenancing of disinformation, hate for profit, far right wing voices and now President Trump and the Big Lie. Even if those factors don’t matter to shareholders, the barrage of litigation against Meta should. Across dozens of depositions, the boat is leaking, in lawsuits that total billions in possible damages. Investing in Meta is an investment in risk and harm.”
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.
