CSOs claim Meta is failing to address hate speech, human rights risks and political bias ahead of elections
"Meta - 1, Human Rights & platform accountability - 0", 6 June 2023.
Meta shareholders voted on Proposal 7 at the Meta Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 31...Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, and voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices. Proposal 7, the only one out of the 13 proposals with a direct reference to India, and its voting outcome carried immense significance for the Indian audience. The voting outcome for Proposal 7 is a loss in the fight for human rights from companies like Meta whose action (on inaction) have real life implications...
...Ekō, ICWI, and IFF jointly launched a campaign to raise awareness about Proposal 7, and the concerns highlighted therein, among users of Meta platforms, with the aim of urging shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7 by May 31. Our outreach to journalists and civil society organisations, included a press release on May 26, which reiterated concerns highlighted in the proposal and emphasised the need to urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7...
...Meta shareholders voted against Proposal 7, an outcome in line with the recommendation of Meta’s Board. As per the preliminary voting results, the proposal received 5% votes in favour and 95% vote against. These are not the final numbers and they will only be released in the coming days when Meta submits their final vote tally. The results, while disappointing, are not surprising. The resolution calling on Meta to release its India HRIA report and conduct a study on political bias of its algorithm did not pass due the governance structure of the company with a majority of shares owned by leadership...
...The repercussions of Proposal 7's defeat are far-reaching, particularly impacting Meta users in India and the imperative to uphold human rights commitments. But the broader campaign of seeking accountability and transparency from such platforms doesn't end here. Keeping the 2024 general elections in mind, we wish to continue putting significant pressure on the companies such as Meta and continue our efforts as part of a broader campaign with the aim of safeguarding elections and democracy from misuse of social media platforms. On the HRIA in specific, we stand by the demand for its full and immediate release. We are motivated to hold Meta to account and protect our democracy going forward...