May 4, 2022
Meta has done too little to prevent children from being harmed by content on its social media …
KEY FACTS
AFT President Randi Weingarten asked state and local pension fund trustees, whose funds hold $6.3 billion in Meta stock, to vote in favor of a shareholder resolution that would instruct Meta’s board of directors to hire a law firm to evaluate the board’s performance at managing the risks posed by Facebook and Instagram.
Weingarten said that AFT members have worked to support students suffering from depression, anxiety and other disorders that Weingarten attributed to Facebook and Instagram content.
Weingarten also accused Meta of failing to curb the harmful effects of its social media platforms by allowing conspiracy theories and “catastrophically destructive” Covid-19 disinformation to spread on Facebook.
In a filing, Meta’s board denied taking a cavalier approach to risk management and recommended shareholders vote against the proposal, claiming a third-party evaluation was unnecessary because it would not result in appreciably better performance from the committee.
The resolution is set to be voted on at Meta’s annual shareholder meeting May 25.
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