United States
Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, DC
20549
NOTICE OF EXEMPT SOLICITATION
NAME OF REGISTRANT: Meta Platforms Inc. (META)
NAME OF PERSONS RELYING ON EXEMPTION: Proxy
Impact
ADDRESS OF PERSON RELYING ON EXEMPTION: 5011
Esmond Ave, Richmond, CA 94805
WRITTEN MATERIALS: The attached written
materials are submitted pursuant to Rule 14a-6(g)(1) (the “Rule”) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Submission
is not required of this filer under the terms of the Rule but is made voluntarily in the interest of public disclosure and consideration
of these important issues.
________________________________________________________________________
Meta Platforms Inc. (FB)
Proposal #11–Report on Child
Safety Impacts and Actual Harm Reduction to Children
Annual Meeting May 29, 2024
Contact: Michael
Passoff, CEO, Proxy Impact michael@proxyimpact.com
A Message from lead filer Lisette Cooper,
PhD, vice chair, Fiduciary Trust International1
Dear Fellow Meta shareholders,
Technological innovation can be like fire, capable of being used for
good as well as for bad. In the case of Meta’s social media platforms, they can be used for good, but unfortunately, they have also
been shown to cause great harm to children and teenagers who use them.
Meta’s social media platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram,
have been linked to many dangers to both the mental and physical wellbeing of children and teenagers. These encompass cyberbullying, harassment,
and exposure to sexual or violent content, which can lead to depression, anxiety, self-harm, or a distorted self-image. Children and teenagers
using Meta’s social media platforms—including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger—can also be groomed, and
fall prey to sextortion and human trafficking.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(NCMEC), the vast majority of reported instances of online exploitation of children take place on Meta platforms. The Center has announced
that its CyberTipline received nearly 36 million reports of child sexual abuse material, child sex trafficking, and online enticement
in 2023—and almost 31 million of them came from Meta’s platforms.2 This represents
an increase of 93% from Meta’s nearly 16 million reports in 2019, when shareholders first raised this issue with the company.3
In fact, Meta algorithms created for Instagram guide pedophiles to
sellers of child sexual abuse material, essentially “connecting a vast pedophile network,” according to a Wall Street Journal
investigation published in June 2023.4
Meta’s internal documents show that it rejected efforts to improve
child safety and that an estimated 100,000 kids were sexually harassed on its platforms every day.5 6 NCMEC reports AI-generated
child sexual abuse is exploding, which raises additional concerns given Meta’s commitment to developing AI products.7
_____________________________
1 This statement represents the views of Dr. Cooper, and
not those of the Franklin Templeton organization.
2 https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/2023-reports-by-esp.pdf
3 https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/2019-reports-by-esp.pdf
4 https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-vast-pedophile-network-4ab7189
5 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/technology/meta-childrens-safety-documents.html
6 https://www.wsj.com/tech/children-on-instagram-and-facebook-were-frequent-targets-of-sexual-harassment-state-says-68401b07
7 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/16/child-sexual-abuse-content-online-ai?ref=morningtech.it
In light of these revelations, Meta could be doing so much more to
work with law enforcement and child safety advocates to mitigate, or even reduce, these threats. Unfortunately, against the advice of
both of these groups, Meta has chosen to pursue end-to-end encryption of Facebook Messenger—despite warnings that doing so will
mask the actions of predators by hiding millions of records of child sexual abuse material. Privacy is important, but end-to-end encryption
of Messenger is a step that should have been delayed until more progress on the protection of children was demonstrated.
Shareholders Can Play Big Role
I have spent many years of my career in asset management helping investors
grow and protect their wealth by aligning their money with their values. Shareholders in Meta can make a huge difference in convincing
the company leadership to do more to strengthen protections on Meta social media platforms for children and teenagers. They can also demand
that the company’s management do more to cooperate with law enforcement agencies and child safety organizations to make social media
a less dangerous place for our nation’s most vulnerable.
Meta has a great deal to lose, financially, if it continues to ignore
the dangers posed by its social media platforms. For example, following the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on social media and
youth mental health, 42 U.S. state attorneys general filed lawsuits against Meta, citing the Advisory’s findings that Facebook and
Instagram algorithms are designed to make the platforms addictive, and that they are harmful to the mental
health of children and teens.
In September 2022, Meta was fined just over $400 million by the
Data Protection Commission of Ireland for improperly safeguarding children’s information on Instagram. And the potential
financial penalties will only increase thanks to new legislation in the U.S., the U.K., and the European Union. The U.K. Online
Safety Act of 2023 incorporates measures to keep online users, and especially children, safe from harmful and fraudulent content.
Meanwhile, the E.U.’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act, which went into effect in February 2024, will
require Meta and other companies to identify, report, and remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms. On May 16, 2024,
the E.U. launched a formal investigation of Meta concerning its breach of DSA child safety laws, which can result in fines of up to
$8 billion.8
In this country, the REPORT Act was signed into law by President Biden
earlier this month. This new law will enable the NCMEC’s national tipline to do more to collect reports of online exploitation,
and will require those reports—and accompanying evidence—to be preserved longer, giving law enforcement more time to investigate
and prosecute.
_____________________________
8 https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/facebook-instagram-meta-eu-investigation-b2546150.html
The new legislation around the world will only increase the potential
legal and financial repercussions and penalties which Meta faces if it doesn’t take tangible steps to improve child safety on its
platforms.
Our Resolution
In collaboration with Proxy Impact,9 and with support of
other Meta shareholders, I have filed a resolution to be voted upon at Meta’s annual meeting in Menlo Park, Calif., on May 29, 2024.
The resolution requests that:
“within one year, the Board of Directors adopts targets
and publishes annually a report (prepared at reasonable expense, excluding proprietary information) that includes quantitative metrics
appropriate to assessing whether Meta has improved its performance globally regarding child safety impacts and actual harm reduction to
children on its platforms.”
Sadly, my family and I are too aware of how dangerous social media
can be. My daughter was groomed by a man who misrepresented himself on Facebook Messenger, and later sold her into sexual slavery. She
is now a recovering survivor, and a leader in the movement to end human trafficking and online sexual exploitation. My daughter has also
spoken at two previous Meta annual meetings, including the company’s annual meeting on May 26, 2021.10
Building Safety Into Social Media Platforms By Design
While parents do have a role to play in protecting their children online,
predators are very clever and resourceful, and so are their victims. The reality is that, to truly tackle the issue, tech companies like
Meta need to build safety into their social media platforms by design. Short-term and reactive safety measures won’t make
a significant difference over the long term.
If Meta does not build safety into its social media platforms by choice,
proactively, then legislation will require doing so in ways that may not be best for shareholders. In addition, the longer Meta drags
its heels, the more the risk to its reputation will grow, further threatening Meta’s long-term sustainability and profitability.
Making a consistent effort to keep kids safe from exploitation in the present will also ensure they and their parents will remain customers
and users well into the future.
_____________________________
9 https://www.proxyimpact.com/facebook
10 https://www.proxyimpact.com/_files/ugd/b07274_137f9b5a0d4a454b88cad70a5394c20c.pdf
We the filers of this resolution recognize and understand the need
to protect privacy, and we do not dispute that end-to-end encryption will be a necessary step on this front. All we ask is that Meta focus
on protecting our children before protecting user privacy in the immediate term—and delay end-to-end encryption until more
has been done to remove the dangers lurking on its platforms.
As the world has become aware of how the algorithms and features on
Meta’s social media platforms are being abused in the worst way, many people and institutions are mobilizing to end the abuse, and
protect children and teenagers. I urge Meta shareholders to make their voices heard and unite behind our resolution to hold Meta management
accountable. They now have the opportunity to protect young people online, while also protecting their investments.
When shareholders align their values with their investments, big corporations
listen.
# # # # # #
A Message from Michael Passoff, CEO, Proxy Impact
Both ISS and Glass Lewis recommend FOR this resolution.
“the
company continues to experience controversies related to child safety on its platforms. There are also concerns that the company's plans
to apply end-to-end encryption by default across its messaging platforms will severely hinder investigations of child predators. There
is rising concern about the impacts of social media on teen mental health. Given the potential financial and reputational impacts of potential
controversies related to child safety on the company's platforms, shareholders would benefit from additional information on how the company
is managing the risks related to child safety. Therefore, this proposal merits shareholder support.”
“We do not believe that
the Company has provided sufficient disclosure to demonstrate to shareholders that these risks will be managed by the Company, nor do
we have any reason to be assured that the Company will act proactively rather than reactively, as demonstrated by numerous controversies
related to the distribution of high-risk content on its platform and messaging services. As such, we believe that the requested report
and the adoption and reporting of targets will provide shareholders with valuable information, so they can better understand this sensitive
issue in the context of the Company's efforts to minimize harmful content on its platforms. Moreover, we believe that this precatory proposal
provides the Company sufficient latitude in implementation. Accordingly, we believe that adoption of this proposal could serve to mitigate
regulatory and reputational risk and provide shareholders with sufficient context to understand how the Company is managing this issue.”
A Majority of Shareholders Supported This Resolution in 2023
A similar resolution in 2023 received the support of 817 million shares,
valued at $216 billion based on the stock closing price on the day of the annual meeting. This represented 16.27% of the vote, which equaled
majority support of 53.8% of the non-management-controlled vote. CEO Mark Zuckerberg owns approximately 16% of the Meta stock but gets
10 votes for one share, while regular shareholders get one vote for one share—consequently he controls over 60% of the vote, which
distorts the level of shareholder concern on this issue.
Meta’s Unfulfilled Opposition Statements
Shareholders filed the first child safety resolution in 2020 and Meta’s
opposition statements have barely changed since then as they primarily focus on stating existing policies, attempts to increase parental
controls and user education, and hoped-for improvements in age verification, content moderation and removal. Unfortunately, the pace and
scale of these efforts has utterly failed to stem the exponential growth in negative impacts to youth according to survivors, health and
child safety organizations, regulatory agencies, and media investigations which report on these issues.
Even the Opposition Statements highly touted achievements, such as
“In August 2023 alone, we disabled more than 500,000 accounts for violating our child sexual exploitation policies” have
come in response to media stories illuminating these problems.
If Meta has made any significant measurable improvements in
reducing child safety risks, then it is keeping that information to itself, hence the resolution’s call for an annual report focused
on quantitative metrics in order to assess whether Meta is actually taking comprehensive and successful steps to reduce its levels of
child endangerment.
We ask that you Vote FOR Proposal #11 – Report
on Child Safety Impacts and Actual Harm Reduction to Children
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Mai 2024 à Juin 2024
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juin 2023 à Juin 2024