Despite its recent criticism of Meta’s content-moderation and
fact-checking approaches across its social platforms, the tech giant’s Oversight Board has secured additional funding to continue operations through 2028 as an independent watchdog.
According
to Reuters, $13 million will be directed to the Oversight Board’s trust
as the group of global experts continues to hear Meta-specific cases that
involve content moderation, and is expected to deliver
recommendations on how the tech giant should respond.
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Between 2020 and 2025, the Board issued over 300 recommendations to Meta’s policy team, and the company implemented about 75% of them.
When the Board issues policy recommendations to Meta, they are
generally not binding. However, Meta must respond to these recommendations within 60 days.
The additional funding follows Meta’s 2024 commitment of at least $30 million given annually over the
following three years. Meta previously committed $150 million to the Board in 2022 and $130 million when the Board was initially launched in 2020.
While Meta has followed some of the Board’s
opinions around AI, agreeing to alter its approach to labeling AI-generated or altered content
in 2024, the Board rebuked the changes the company made to its fact-checking operations last year, urging Meta to contemplate “potential adverse effects” of the policy overhaul.
“[A]s users’ experiences on digital platforms evolve, so too do the risks to freedom of expression and other human rights — risks that become more complex as AI plays a greater
role in policy enforcement, and that require greater transparency from companies,” Oversight Board chair Paolo Carozza said in the funding announcement.
