CEO of Facebook
Meta Platforms, Inc., doing business as Meta, and formerly named Facebook, released its 2022 Human Rights Report on September 19, 2023 in which it outlined how it helped to create secure online spaces and support election integrity in Nigeria.
In the 54-page report, the multinational technology conglomerate based in California in the United States, which owns and operates various products and services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Reality Labs, gave an account of is human rights progress, actions and insights during calendar year 2022 – January 1 to December 31.
The report is Meta’s second such annual Human Rights Report. Its first annual Human Rights Report was published in July 2022 and covered its “learnings and progress” from January 1 2021 through December 31 2021.
It said in the lead-up to the 2023 General Election in Nigeria, it engaged with a broad range of stakeholders and that engagements focused on its election policies and efforts to uphold the integrity and accuracy of information on its apps, adding that it “gathered insights about violating content trends, helping us to improve its detection and to maintain information integrity.”
Meta listed its other activities ahead of the Nigerian elections as:
· Carrying out digital security and safety training for vulnerable groups, including female politicians and female public figures, human rights defenders (HRDs), and activists
· Conducting a Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI) Policy roundtable in Nigeria as well as two roundtables in London with the Nigerian diaspora
· Collaborating with trusted partners through workshops and consultations to help them identify and escalate content including hate speech, misinformation, violence and incitement, voter interference, and bullying and harassment
Meta said in the report that in 2022, it built and strengthened teams to remain ready for elections around the world, including in Brazil, Kenya, and Nigeria, as well as midterm elections in the United States and made investments, engaged stakeholders and experts, while also establishing partnerships, and improving technologies.
It also reported that it provided training on Community Standards and reporting mechanisms for United Nations country teams in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Haiti.
