Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit Chapter One: Civil Rights Accountability Structure As outlined in the last audit report, the civil rights community has long recognized the need for a permanent civil rights accountability structure at Facebook. Facebook has acknowledged that it must create internal systems and processes to ensure that civil rights concerns based on race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and other categories are proactively identified and addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated way before products and policies are launched, rather than met with reactive, piecemeal, or ad hoc measures after civil rights impacts have already been felt. The Auditors strongly believe that respecting, embracing and upholding civil rights is both a moral and business imperative for such a large and powerful global social media company. For the duration of their engagement with Facebook, the Auditors have not just reviewed Facebook’s policies and practices relating to civil rights, but have also vigorously elevated real-time civil rights concerns that they identified and/or that were raised by the civil rights community. The Auditors played a crucial role in encouraging Facebook to address those concerns. With the Audit coming to an end, calls for an effective civil rights infrastructure have only become louder. Last year, the company took important, initial steps toward building the foundation for a civil rights accountability structure. It created a Civil Rights Task Force led by Sheryl Sandberg, committed to providing civil rights training for employees, and agreed to add more civil rights expertise to its team. The Auditors and the civil rights community acknowledged Facebook’s progress, but made it clear that more needed to be done. Improving upon accountability efforts initiated in 2019 has been a critical focus for the Auditors since the last audit report, and Facebook agrees that having an infrastructure in place to support civil rights work long-term is critical now that the formal audit is over. This section provides updates on the commitments Facebook made in 2019, and describes the progress Facebook has since made in continuing to build out its civil rights accountability infrastructure. It also identifies where the Auditors think Facebook has not gone far enough and should do more. While Facebook should be credited for the improvements it has made since the previous report the Auditors urge Facebook to continue to build out its civil rights infrastructure so that it effectively surfaces and addresses civil rights issues at a level commensurate with the scale and scope of Facebook’s reach. Given the breadth and depth of Facebook’s reach and its impact on people’s lives, Facebook’s platform, policies, and products can have significant civil rights implications and real-world consequences. It is critical that Facebook establish a structure that is equal to the task. A. Update on Prior Commitments Last year, Facebook made four commitments to lay the foundation for a civil rights accountability structure: (1) create a Civil Rights Task Force designed to continue after the Audit ends; (2) cement Sheryl Sandberg’s leadership of the Task Force; (3) onboard civil rights expertise; and (4) commit to civil rights training. Facebook is currently progressing on all four commitments. 13