A Member of Meta’s Oversight Board Discusses the Board’s New Decision
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2022
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
When Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen shared a trove of internal company documents to the Wall Street Journal in 2021, some of the most dramatic revelations concerned the company’s use of a so-called “cross-check” system that, according to the Journal, essentially exempted certain high-profile users from the platform’s usual rules. After the Journal published its report, Facebook—which has since changed its name to Meta—asked the platform’s independent Oversight Board to weigh in on the program. And now, a year later, the Board has finally released its opinion.
On this episode of Arbiters of Truth, our series on the online information ecosystem, Lawfare senior editors Alan Rozenshtein and Quinta Jurecic sat down with Suzanne Nossel, a member of the Oversight Board and the CEO of PEN America. She talked us through the Board’s findings, its criticisms of cross-check, and its recommendations for Meta going forward.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | But this system really just amounts to a lot of unequal treatment without a valid basis. |
| 0:40.0 | The delayed removal of violating content is a second major concern, |
| 0:45.0 | and the idea that this content is kept up on the platform during the period of maximum virality |
| 0:52.0 | and the initial hours and days after it is posted and that it can travel all the way across the world |
| 1:00.0 | before this system catches up to it, and then where the content is harmful, |
| 1:04.0 | that creates a great concern. |
| 1:07.0 | I'm Quintedurusic, senior editor at LawFair, |
| 1:11.0 | and this is the LawFair podcast, December 12, 2022. |
| 1:17.0 | Today, we're bringing you an episode of Arbitus of Truth, |
| 1:20.0 | our series on the online information ecosystem. |
| 1:24.0 | When Facebook whistleblower Francis Hagen shared a trove of internal company documents |
| 1:29.0 | with the Wall Street Journal in 2021, |
| 1:32.0 | some of the most dramatic revelations concerned the company's use of a so-called cross-check system |
| 1:38.0 | that, according to the journal, |
| 1:41.0 | essentially exempted certain high-profile users from the platform's typical rules. |
| 1:47.0 | After the journal published its report, Facebook, which has since changed its name to Meta, |
... |
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