Meta oversight co-chair: ‘Huge problems’ with Zuckerberg changes
The co-chair of Meta’s oversight board has said there are “huge problems” with some of the changes Mark Zuckerberg has announced to the social media platforms’ content moderation, adding that members of the board are “not on board” with many of the reforms.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who, as well as her role with Meta’s independent oversight board, was Denmark’s first-ever female Prime Minister, said that while Meta’s systems for moderation had become “too complex”, Zuckerberg’s decision to scrap them would lead to an increase in harmful content.
“We are – of course – very concerned about gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, trans people’s rights on the platforms,” Thorning-Schmidt told the BBC’s Today programme, “because we are seeing many instances where hate speech can lead to real life harm.
“So we will be watching that space very carefully, and in my view our task is the same as it has been all along, but perhaps even more important.”
Mark Zuckerberg changes
On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, announced that the fact-checkers employed by his company in the US would be replaced by a ‘community notes’ system, redolent of the one on X.
The move, which Zuckerberg announced in a video statement, was widely interpreted as one made to curry favour with the incoming Trump administration after Meta decided to ban Trump from its platforms after the insurrection of January 6 2021.
Meta has already donated $1m (£810m) to the President-elect’s inaugural fund. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg appointed a prominent Republican as president of global affairs, replacing former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Clegg was widely attributed as having played an integral role in the decision to bar Trump from Meta’s platforms for his “praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol”. .
Asked whether the changes to content moderation were another example of Mark Zuckerberg “cosying up to Donald Trump”, Thorning-Schmidt said: “There’s definitely an element of weighing in on the new political climate in the US, of course, there is… I think they’re trying to find a way of existing in this new environment.”
The former Danish Prime Minister also said that while there were “huge problems” with some of the proposals, and that it was wrong “to say that [Meta’s Oversight Board] was on board with these changes”.
However, she also said that the current system used by Meta in the US had become overcomplicated and was suitable for reform.
“I think some of what has been said yesterday could be a good idea,” she said before adding, “We welcome looking into factchecking. We welcome that message, looking into the complexity and perhaps over-enforcement.”