Journalists Alan Rusbridger and Khaled Mansour, who serve on Meta’s Oversight Board, have accused CEO Mark Zuckerberg of bowing to President-elect Donald Trump’s will by altering the company’s content moderation policies. The changes include axing a fact-checking program and replacing it with a community notes feature similar to Elon Musk’s X.
Meta has also donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and appointed several of his allies to senior positions, including UFC CEO Dana White. The Oversight Board, established in 2018, mediates content disputes but is not directly involved in business operations.
Rusbridger and Mansour warned that Zuckerberg’s actions could risk catastrophe by spreading misinformation and disinformation, citing examples such as Myanmar, where Facebook was accused of promoting violence against the Rohingya people. They questioned Meta’s new strategy to adopt community notes, which they believe could fail in polarized conflicts and embolden violence.
The criticism comes amid speculation about the impact of these changes on public trust and global users. Rusbridger and Mansour noted that it will take a year for the changes to be implemented in the US, but emphasized that there is no immediate harm from these actions.
Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/meta-oversight-board-members-rip-zuckerbergs-play-to-audience-of-one