The Wall Street Journal and whistleblower Frances Haugen just
exposed secret Facebook research into the harm caused by the
platform. Mark Zuckerberg chose to straight-up ignore that research
because it was bad for business.
But instead of coming down hard, Facebook’s “oversight
board” issued a cop-out response, and made it clear that company
execs aren’t even honest with them. How can they
oversee Facebook if they’re constantly lied to?
This board was set up to protect Facebook’s users -- you and me.
It’s time we speak up and demand they stop giving Facebook
executives cover for their unwillingness to clean up the site.
Tell
the Oversight Board: Resign if Facebook doesn’t release the
research!
Let’s tell the Oversight Board that we need them to speak for us.
They need to resign if Facebooks refuses to make a full
public disclosure of the internal research on Facebook
harms and stop providing cover for Facebook. With a huge
public outcry we can get answers and act on them.
Facebook Oversight Board members are “outside experts and civic
leaders” from around the world. While the Board was supposed to get
a grip on Facebook's biggest problems, the Board only
considers a tiny percentage of submitted cases (20 out of
500,000) -- and those cases are only raised after
Facebook has ruled on them.
This means Facebook’s decisions to ignore dangerous
content - anti-vax, various harms to children, complicity in human
trafficking are not even considered.
The Oversight Board’s response to the current news does not even
mention any of the new revelations except the “Cross Check”
exemptions for the rich and powerful, not us and our kids.
The members of the Oversight Board, paid for by Facebook,
claim independence and a commitment to transparency but its
response to all we are learning sure doesn’t look like it.
It’s time for them to stand up for us, not
Facebook:
Send
a message to the Facebook Oversight Board!
