A Facebook policy designed to protect high-profile users from the company’s surveillance system was created primarily to benefit the company itself, Meta’s “supervisory board” has ruled. The policy did not prioritize protecting free speech and civil rights on the platform.
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The supervisory board said the following about the favoritism of business interests: “The “cross-check” system appeared to favor business partners (entertainers, musicians and news publishers), while journalists and civil society organizations have less clear paths to access the program.
The cross-check list provides users with varying levels of protection, while content from users on the cross-check list is allowed to remain on the platform while it is being reviewed by human moderators. Meta described this as a “mistake prevention strategy” that will protect important users from having their content accidentally removed.
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In contrast, content posted by ordinary users is much less likely to be viewed by reviewers who can apply Meta's full guidelines.
The board stated that a user’s “celebrity or number of followers” should not be the sole criteria for receiving protection from the program. Meta admitted to the board that other criteria for including “business partners” on this list included how much revenue they generated.
Meta also told the board that it exempts some content from takedowns. The company described this system as “technical corrections” and said it was making about 1,000 per day. The board recommended that Meta conduct audits of enforcement actions that have been blocked under the system .
The board added that the technical corrections system is considered an “allow list” or “whitelist”.
The board went on to say that the cross-check “business partner” category includes users who are likely to bring money to the company, either through “formal business relationships” or by introducing users to Meta’s platforms. It stated that due to the “perception of censorship,” they prefer not to download the content.
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The council made 32 recommendations. These include: removing special protections for commercially important accounts if they repeatedly violate content rules, prioritizing moderation of posts that are important for human rights , and cross-checking content that is “highly severe” should be removed or hidden during reviews .
Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said the company will respond to the board's recommendations within 90 days to fully address them.
Source of information: theguardian.com
