Meta's First Human Rights Report Defends Company's Disinformation Strategy

Meta has released its first annual human rights report, and you might not be shocked by the angle the company is taking. As CNBC notes, the 83-page document outlines Facebook's parent company's handling of human rights issues in 2020 and 2021, with a focus on justifying the strategies of company to combat misinformation and harassment. Meta said his approaches to tackling health misinformation (in light of COVID-19), implied threats, and similar issues reflect a "balance" between free speech and other rights, such as life, security and elections.

The report also describes Meta's attempt to prevent rights violations with its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. The company said it studied both privacy risks and potential harm to vulnerable groups, such as women, children and minorities. Meta has touted its privacy protections elsewhere, including end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp messages that now includes chat backups.

However, the text will not satisfy critics of Meta's responses to disinformation and violence in India. The social media giant provided only a summary of an independent human rights impact assessment in India, noting that law firm Foley Hoag found that Facebook, WhatsApp and other platforms were linked to inflammatory speech and security threats. Meta made changes that included stronger local moderation teams and crackdowns on coordinated prejudice and hate speech. The company, however, did not provide the full report and did not commit to implementing Foley Hoag's recommendations.

There are other holes. The Indian study did not address claims of biased content moderation. You won't find any meaningful discussion of the Metaverse either - Meta only announced its pivot in October 2021, leaving little room for AR and VR to impact the Human Rights Report. Any substantial updates will have to wait until 2023. Even so, it's worth noting that Meta acknowledges rights issues more directly than in the past.

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