Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) Must Improve its Governance of Harmful Content

One such incident was the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol which was incubated by the spread of disinformation on social media regarding the 2020 US presidential election results. Meta has a responsibility to its users and investors to improve the implementation of its “Community Standards” and effectively control the dissemination of user content that contains or promotes hate speech, disinformation, or content that incites violence and/or harm to public health or personal safety.

Meta has not yet shared their proxy statement for their upcoming AGM, however based on last years proxy statement investors needed to have held shares by April 1 to support this proposal* See below for more information

Our Goal

Our goal is to support As You Sow’s proposal to Meta by launching a campaign that allows individuals to invest in a safer and more just future and ensure Meta is striving to oversee content shared on the company’s platforms in a way that does not harm society and create investor risk by voting at the company’s next shareholder meeting. The proposal on behalf of shareholders seeks to remedy the past ineffectiveness of Meta’s technological and human-screening system by requesting that Meta’s Board of Directors prepare a report analysing why the enforcement of “Community Standards” as described in the “Transparency Center” has proven ineffective at controlling the dissemination of user content that contains or promotes hate speech, disinformation, or content that incites violence and/or harm to public health or personal safety. A “win” would result in Meta being required to issue this report which should include:

• A quantitative and qualitative assessment by an external, independent panel of qualified computer scientists of the effectiveness of Meta’s algorithms to locate and eliminate content that violates the Community Standards
• An assessment of the effectiveness of Meta’s staff and contractors in locating and eliminating content that violates the Community Standards
• An examination of benefits to users and impact to revenue if the Company would voluntarily follow existing legal frameworks established for broadcast networks (e.g. laws forbidding child pornography and rules governing political ads)
• An analysis of the benefits of the Company continuing to conduct technology impact assessments focused on how Meta’s platforms affect society.

This report should cover each of Meta’s major products, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and any other app that reaches over 100 million users.