Facebook Cross-check criticised as unfair, under-resourced and opaque
Facebook's Cross-check system was taken to task by Meta's Oversight Board for unfairly providing VIP users with less onerous rules than everyone else and having a poorly resourced and opaque system to manage them. The Oversight Board found that t he Cross- c heck system results in users being treated unequally, that it lead to substantial delays in taking down rule-violating content (on average, decisions took more than 5 days, with some cases taking up to 7 months), and it appears to be structured more to satisfy the company's commercial objectives rather than to advance Meta's human rights commitments. It also found that w hile only 9 percent of Facebook's daily active users are from the US and Canada, 42 percent of content reviewed under Cross- c heck came from these two countries , and that Facebook had fail ed to provide crucial details about Cross- c heck to the Oversight Board, including criteria for adding accounts to the system. The Oversight Board made 32 recommendations to improve the Cross-check, including developing clearer criteria for account eligibility and making these public, allowing individuals to apply for the programme proactively, visually communicating an account's Cross-check status to users, increasing resources to ensure the timely review of flagged content, and prioritising posts important for human rights and considered of special public importance. ➕ March 2023. Meta agreed to the Oversight Board's recommendation to publish regular Transparency Reports on Cross-check and to limit the distribution of content from high-profile individuals that likely violated platform rules until their posts had been adjudicated. Whitelist A whitelist or allowlist is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized. Source: Wikipedia 🔗 System 🤖 Facebook Cross-check/XCheck VIP whitelisting Documents 📃 Meta (2022, updated 2023). Oversight Board Selects a PAO on Meta's Cross-check Policies Meta (2022). Reviewing high-impact content accurately via our Cross-check system Operator: Meta/Facebook Developer: Meta/Facebook Country: USA Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts; Politics Purpose: Moderate content Technology: Content moderation system Issue: Accountability; Ethics/values; Fairness; Human/civil rights; Safety; Transparency Investigations, assessments, audits 🧐 Oversight Board (2021). Policy Advisory Opinion: Meta's Cross-check programme Oversight Board (2021). Full Policy Advisory Opinion on Meta's Cross-check progam (pdf) Oversight Board (2021). Oversight Board demands more transparency from Facebook Oversight Board (2021). Oversight Board opens public comments for policy advisory opinion on cross-check
- Date it happened
- 2022-12-01
- Organisation involved
- Product, system or model
- Facebook Cross-check
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