Even though it gets thrown under the rug sometimes, the truth is we actually live in a very volatile world. This volatility has surfaced on various different occasions, and notably enough, it has appeared in varying forms. Now, when you don’t even know the extent of an upcoming turbulence, things get tricky really quick. Hence, to protect people from getting impacted by such undesirable events, we would bring dedicated regulatory bodies into the fold. These bodies were given the task of keeping a close eye on everything that goes down in the public domain. They were also given the room to establish regulations so to introduce clear reference points across the board. However, while the devised rules remain a part of what the regulatory industry is all about today, they don’t cover the other responsibilities that we expect our governing forces to bear. You see, the regulators’ core role has evolved rather dramatically over the years. With elements like technology entering the fray, we now want the watchdogs to understand and handle situations that they are learning about pretty much on the fly. In hindsight, though, we must say they have come a long way. Their progression, in fact, becomes quite apparent when you observe the measures they are taking against all the misdoings of Big Tech companies. This same assertiveness looks set to be tested yet again, as Meta faces two new complaints.
Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit that represents Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, has officially filed two new Security and Exchange Commission complaints against the social media giant. According to The Washington Post, the complaints talk at length to Meta misleading its stakeholders in regards to fighting misinformation about climate change and Covid 19. The first complaint focuses entirely on how, despite Meta’s consistent reassurances, the climate change misinformation is still available in spades throughout the platform. These accusations are further solidified through internal documents sharing Meta employees own experiences in this context. Apart from it, the Whistleblower Aid’s complaint even delves into the failure of company’s Climate Science Information Center. Launched in 2020, the information center has struggled immensely to achieve its intended reach so far. The worst part is that misinformation levels have only gone up during this time.
The similar case is pretty similar for nonprofit’s second complaint. Again backed up by internal documents, the report does a lot to convey how Meta is housing anti-quarantine groups, imprecise details regarding the vaccine, and the Covid 19 disease.
In response, however, Meta has now issued a statement.
“We’ve directed more than 2 billion people to authoritative public health information and continue to remove false claims about vaccines, conspiracy theories, and misinformation,” said Drew Pusateri, Meta’s spokesperson. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions to stopping the spread of misinformation, but we’re committed to building new tools and policies to combat it.”
