Mark Zuckerberg’s Censorship Rules Were ‘Adjusted Hastily,’ Meta Oversight Board Says

Meta’s Oversight Board is not thrilled with the changes CEO Mark Zuckerberg made to the company’s censorship policies earlier this year. On Wednesday, the board said his decision to ditch the third party fact-checking operation was “announced hastily” and “in a departure from regular procedure, with no public information shared as to what, if any, prior human rights due diligence” was performed.

Zuckerberg in January announced that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, would instead employ a Community Notes feature that was first made popular by X, Elon Musk’s platform. At the time, Zuckerberg said the move was about “restoring free expression” to his platform; he later compared Meta’s previous censorship rules to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.”

“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said.

Three months later, the Oversight Board wishes it had been more involved in reshaping Meta’s “content moderation” policies, per a Wednesday blog post.

“Meta should identify how the policy and enforcement updates may adversely impact the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including minors, especially where these populations are at heightened risk,” the Board wrote. “It should adopt measures to prevent and/or mitigate these risks and monitor their effectiveness. Finally, Meta should update the Board every six months on its progress, reporting on this publicly at the earliest opportunity.”

The 21-person board was launched in 2020 to help Meta make decisions on the content it censored, both in the U.S. and abroad. The company has since put more than $200 million into funding the board, which includes Stanford law professor Michael McConnell, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel and Cato Institute VP John Samples among its members.

Notably, the Oversight Board backed Meta’s decision to ban President Trump from Instagram and Facebook in early 2021, following the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot; the Board’s only quibble with Zuckerberg’s decision was that it said Trump needed to be given a specific timeframe for how long his ban would last. Trump was later reinstated in 2023.

Meta’s Oversight Board shared 17 recommendations with the company on Wednesday on how it can better police its platforms. Those recommendations included having Meta “improve how it enforces violations of its Bullying and Harassment policies,” and having the company “clarify the references to hateful ideologies not permitted” in its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy.

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