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This weekend has been eventful. I'm not going to rehash what passed for those who enjoyed a pleasant Saturday. In considering how the @OversightBoard attempts to communicate to the world & engage researchers, instead I'll offer up some advice to the leadership of tech companies.
1. Calm down, stop reacting to media coverage - move beyond trying to manage the perception of what you are doing and get a proper strategy for actually addressing abuses of your platforms. Start by looking beyond single threats to ensuring integrity of the info environment.
2. Old PR approaches ain't cutting it anymore. You are at the heart of an information struggle, and if you want to show you are on the side of democracy, then transparency and authenticity are key - any activity that suggests you are framing discourse undermines your credibility
3. No matter how independent the @OversightBoard is, it was set up by @Facebook and comes with all the baggage of its founder. To succeed in a meaningful way, the OB has to be that much more careful and conscious of how it communicates and engages with researchers and media.
4. Solutions to the age-old problem of disinfo take time - invest in long term answers. Researchers aren't there to be used, they are there to help solve some of the world's thorniest problems. Here's a model for doing that respectfully: https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/83758
To everyone else in this space, let's take a deep breath. We are dealing with an extremely complex problem that is going to take a multi-disciplinary community to address. We are all humans trying to do the best we can - it would be good if we can remember that day-to-day.
