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Meta has apparently had enough of its independent Oversight Board.
After trimming the board’s budget for 2026, Meta plans to further reduce funding in 2027 and 2028, and potentially stop paying for it entirely after that, Platformer reports.
Announced in 2018, the Oversight Board was described by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as “a new way for people to appeal [Facebook] content decisions to an independent body, whose decisions would be transparent and binding…to uphold the principle of giving people a voice while also recognizing the reality of keeping people safe.”
It took two years for the board to open the user appeals process and select its first six cases. Since then it has expanded to cover other Meta platforms like Threads, and weighed in on a number of notable cases, often overturning Meta management decisions.
The board was initially created with an irrevocable trust with $130 million to cover operational costs for at least five years. It is made up of journalists, scholars, human rights lawyers, activists, and former politicians.
(Credit: Meta Oversight Board)Meta and the board are reportedly negotiating a compromise that would allow the board to continue its work, but perhaps in a different form, Platformer notes. Suggestions include breaking off from Meta entirely and offering a similar oversight service to other social platforms.
In recent weeks, the Oversight Board has criticized Meta's handling of deepfake videos and images, called for greater protections against the use of AI on its platforms (particularly with regards to misinformation during ongoing conflicts), and warned Meta over its use of transphobic language in its policies.
Meta, however, has reportedly pushed to automate many of its trust and safety functions. Earlier this week, it outlined how it integrates AI into its Risk Review program.
Meta is reportedly prepping for another round of layoffs that will affect 20% of its workforce as part of its AI push. It has had layoffs almost every year since 2022. It laid off 11,000 employees that year, and another 10,000 in 2023. The company then cut an unconfirmed number of jobs in 2024 and around 5%, or around 3,600 people, in a round of performance-based layoffs last year.
In 2025, Meta went on a AI hiring spree, poaching top executives from rival companies.