Meta Oversight Board Demands Tougher Stance Against ‘Doxing’

Hostile political activists have made it a common tactic to reveal the addresses of people.

The Meta Oversight Board demanded that Meta-owned Facebook strengthen its policies against the sharing of private citizens’ addresses. “In its policy advisory opinion, the Board recommends that Meta remove the exception to the Privacy Violations Community Standard that allows the sharing of private residential information when it is considered ‘publicly available,’” The Oversight Board said in an early February blog post. “This would help Meta better protect people’s private residential information.”

It is clear that while the addresses of famous people may be available publicly, Facebook will take a stronger stance against those who are posting them as a way to curb hostile behavior. The Oversight Board went on to propose Meta “create a communications channel for victims of doxing, give users more control over how they consent to sharing their private residential information and provide data showing the amount of content removed following privacy-related government requests.”

The Oversight Board summarized Meta’s request for the board’s expertise on the issue, noting the harms of predatory doxing:

“Meta’s request noted several potential harms linked to releasing personal information, including residential addresses and images. These include ‘doxing,’ (which refers to the release of documents, abbreviated as ‘dox’) where information which can identify someone is revealed online. Meta noted that doxing can have negative real-world consequences, such as harassment or stalking.”

The Oversight Board did not acknowledge that Meta allowed radicals to target and dox several high-level politicians and school board candidates that went against the left’s narrative, claiming instead that “Harms resulting from doxing disproportionately affect groups such as women, children and LGBTQIA+ people.”

Facebook allowed leftists even to post an event in order to harass the U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D.W.Va.) October 2021. Supporting the Green New Deal Sunrise DC tweeted, “start the week off right by yelling at Joe Manchin.” The same tweet linked to a Facebook event hosted by Shut Down DC earlier in October. The Facebook event notice proclaimed, “We’re going back to Manchin’s yacht at the Wharf,” complete with a map/address.

That’s not the only politician targeted by doxing.

Newsweek summarized Sept. 21, 2020, that “Protesters on Monday gathered outside South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham’s house to ‘wake him up’ over his push to quickly replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away Friday.” Facebook allowed both Shut Down DC and Sunrise DC to organize the protest via a Facebook event page. The event page that listed Graham’s purported address and called upon supporters to protest at the senator’s house has since been deleted. Both organizations can still be active on the platform.

Conservationalism is being attacked.Call Facebook Headquarters at (650-308-7300 to demand accountability from Big Tech and the Left for their policies. If Facebook has shown bias, Get in touchContact the Media Research Center to help hold Big Tech responsible.