Meta $META committed additional funding to secure its Oversight Board's operations through 2028, the watchdog body announced Thursday.
Oversight Board co-chair Paolo Carozza announced that the additional funding would flow into the board's irrevocable trust. The amount of the additional funding was not disclosed. A prior commitment made in 2024 had set the figure at a minimum of $30 million per year across a three-year period, Reuters reported.
Carozza also noted that Meta has reaffirmed its practice of sending difficult content moderation questions to the board and engaging with its policy guidance. The board makes binding decisions on content issues across Meta's platforms and issues policy recommendations the company must respond to but is not required to implement.
The funding announcement comes as the Oversight Board faces uncertainty about its future role. According to Engadget, only half of the smaller portion of the 2028 funds has been transferred to the board, as conversations about its trajectory — including a possible expansion to organizations other than Meta — remain unresolved.
The board has also sought to work with artificial intelligence companies, but Meta has not moved forward with that process, according to Engadget. Doing so would require changes to the legal documents governing the board's operations. Members of the board have made the case that years spent navigating Meta's content rules positions them to offer meaningful guidance to generative AI firms, though whether Meta will sanction that kind of expansion remains an open question.
The funding announcement also follows a period of tension between Meta and the board. The board issued a sharp public criticism of Meta in April 2025, taking aim at the company's rollback of U.S. fact-checking and its loosened rules around subjects such as immigration and gender identity, Reuters reported. Zuckerberg had announced the policy shifts at the start of 2025, framing prior content enforcement as overly restrictive.
"The Oversight Board is currently engaged in meaningful discussions with Meta regarding its future and the evolution of its model to ensure the organization can address the most urgent emerging challenges in AI governance, standards, and accountability," an Oversight Board spokesperson said in a statement, according to Engadget. "At this time, no decisions have been made about the Board's future, and the organization's day-to-day work and mandate remain unchanged."
Since it was established, the board has taken in over $280 million from Meta and, across roughly five years of activity, has issued upward of 200 rulings on individual content matters that the company is bound to follow, Engadget reported.