Meta Oversight Board says "cross-checking" benefits influential users

The Meta Supervisory Board stated that the content moderation system benefits 'VIP' users, such as politicians, celebrities and business partners, over normal users. In a nearly 50-page report, the Board alleged that the "cross-checking" system encourages the spread of fake news by influential users and that it was only created to "satisfy the commercial interests" of the company.

Cross-checking and the Supervisory Board

The Oversight Council or Board is an entity, funded by Meta, made up of experts in the areas of freedom of expression and human rights. It is described as a kind of 'Supreme Court,' as it allows users to appeal decisions about content on Mark Zuckerberg's different platforms.

So, what exactly does cross-checking consist of? When a VIP user posts content that violates Meta's rules, the post is not immediately deleted (which would happen with normal users), but is left pending a human review that lasts approximately five days.

Radically increase transparency

According to information from CNN, the Board urged the company to hide the posts of its most prominent users that violate its policies while they are being reviewed and verified, in order to prevent the spread of more information that may not be true. The report includes more than two dozen recommendations to improve the moderation function and calls on the company to "radically increase transparency" about the "cross-checking" system and its operation.

Meta "grants certain users greater protection than others" by allowing a human reviewer to provide their posts with the full range of company standards. "The program appears more directly structured to satisfy business concerns...than in advancing Meta's human rights commitments" according to the Board's statement.

In the interest of transparency,"Meta should measure, audit and publish key metrics around its cross-check program so it can know whether the program is working effectively," the Board said. Breitbart News notes that"the Board, packed with leftists, believes the answer is more censorship."

Cross-checking protects VIPs

The Wall Street Journal was commissioned to conduct the study that revealed that the cross-checking system protected some VIP users from the company's normal content moderation process.

Meta accepted criticism of the system, but justified that the program was created in order to improve the accuracy of moderation on content that "might require more understanding." The company's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, reiterated that the system is intended to "prevent potential over-enforcement of the rules." He also said that Meta plans to respond to the report within 90 days.