WASHINGTON, DC — Today, The Tech Oversight Project slammed Meta for laying off workers at the company’s Oversight Board six months before Election Day. The news comes as the company has recently decided to sunset other transparency bodies like CrowdTangle, fire large numbers of its trust and safety team, and muzzle academic research critical of the company.
“With roughly six months until Election Day, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Meta senior leadership are shirking their responsibility to protect free and fair elections in the United States by eliminating every avenue for transparency. Rather than recognizing their role in tackling digital threats to democracy and devoting the necessary resources to it, Meta is throwing its hands up and burying its head in the sand,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of the Tech Oversight Project. “Mark Zuckerberg has walked away from his commitment to Congress – under oath – to help protect American elections. By firing large swaths of its trust and safety team and muzzling critical academic research, his promises ring hollow and shine a light on a company that has become so consumed by its own self-preservation and negative press that it’s unwilling to meet the moment.”