Meta's Oversight Board Finds Cross-check Puts 'Business Concerns' Ahead of Human Rights

upstart writes:

The board found numerous flaws in Facebook's moderation rules for celebs and and VIPs :

More than a year after Meta asked the Oversight Board to weigh in on its cross-check rules, the group has finally published its full policy advisory on the topic. The board found that the program, which creates a separate content moderation process for certain high-profile users, prioritizes the company's business over the rights of its users.

"In our review, we found several shortcomings in Meta's cross-check program," the board writes in its assessment. "While Meta told the Board that cross-check aims to advance Meta's human rights commitments, we found that the program appears more directly structured to satisfy business concerns." Notably, the critique echoes that of whistleblower Frances Haugen, who revealed explosive details about cross-check last year, and has said that Meta "chooses profits over safety."

Cross-check, or xcheck, is an internal program at Facebook and Instagram that shields celebrities, politicians, and other high-profile users from the company's automated content moderation systems. Meta has characterized it as a "second layer of review" to avoid mistakenly removing posts. But disclosures made by Haugen showed the program includes millions of accounts, and has enabled billions of views on posts that would have otherwise been taken down. The Oversight Board itself has accused Meta of being not "fully forthcoming" about the program, which was a central issue in the board's handling of the suspension of former President Donald Trump.

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