I am surprised... that anyone was surprised...

Turning from Valve to bigger fish, we have a new report from the Wall Street Journal, reported here by Engadget because WSJ's paywall is ridiculous:

Meta’s “Responsible Innovation Team,” a group meant to address “potential harms to society” caused by Facebook's products, is no more. The Wall Street Journal reports that the team was recently “disbanded” though “most” members will stay on with other teams at the company. A Meta spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal the company was “committed to the team’s goals,” but didn’t provide a reason for the change in strategy.

[...]

The Responsible Innovation team isn’t the only team to recently be reshuffled. Earlier this summer, Meta reorganized its entire AI team, which included folding the Responsible AI group into its Social Impact team. The company has also been looking to cut costs as its revenue shrinks for the first time in its history. Meta has also axed some projects in its Reality Labs division and slowed its hiring amid rumors of potential layoffs.

So... Meta née Facebook, saddled with its VR division's ballooning cost and lackluster revenues, went looking something to cut for costs, and decided that the things they could afford to cut back on were ethics and responsibility. Because of course they did.

 

 

Seriously, though, after the Facebook Papers and Frances Haugen, was anyone really expecting Meta née Facebook to actually do better on this front? And, if they were, well... why? For the love of God, why?

 

More details are available from Engadget here, or from the Wall Street Journal here.