The Tech Oversight Project Executive Director Sacha Haworth released the following statement after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced major policy changes in a personal social media post, as his company remains embroiled in litigation for violations including infringing on children’s privacy, exposing minors to sex traffickers, and blocking competition online:
“Mark Zuckerberg’s pick-me act with Trump and the MAGAsphere just hit overdrive with a fawning video promising to further enshittify Meta’s platforms and outsource basic moderation and safety responsibilities to users – while admitting ‘it means we’re going to catch less bad stuff.’ Zuckerberg’s plan to slash moderation teams and move them to Texas shows he’s in a race to the bottom with Elon Musk to weaken social media platforms’ trust and safety capacities. He’s even doubling down on Facebook’s sexist FaceMash origins by ‘leaning out’ from basic protections against gender-based attacks. Don’t forget: Zuckerberg’s supplicant routine comes with a major antitrust trial looming in the background, as the FTC is set to go to trial against Meta this April. It’s obvious that Zuckerberg’s fawning videos, visits to Mar-a-Lago, and donations to Trump are desperate attempts to curry favor with MAGA in order to prevent his precious monopoly from being broken up and allow him to keep profiteering.”
###