ON THE MORNING OF THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022, TWO LARGELUXURY BUSES PULLED UP TO A GRAND HOTEL IN NENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA. MILLING ON THE DRIVEWAY WERE THE MEMBERS, STAFFERS, AND TRUSTEES of the Oversight Board. Set up two years ago by Facebook, now Meta, this august gaggle exists to second-guess the company's most controversial actions. The board members, who'd already logged countless hours on video calls and email, were spending their first week together in person. The buses rumbled off, whisking the 23 Zoom buddies to Meta's headquarters 4 miles away. The group made its way across the mammoth Gehry-designed complex to a verdant outdoor amphitheater known as the Bowl. Sheryl Sandberg, Meta's outgoing chief operating officer, greeted the crowd in the midday heat. Next up was Nick Clegg, the company's president for global affairs. Clegg was almost startling in his effusive praise of the board. He was taking questions from the members when, suddenly, the large screens in the Bowl lit up with a familiar face. Mark Zuckerberg's expressionless visage peered down at the sweaty visitors. Though Zuckerberg had personally willed into being this body of overseers-overseeing him-he had never met with all its current members. Meta's founder and CEO didn't share his location, but a fair guess would have been that he was at his Hawaiian island retreat, where he had spent much of the previous year. Staring into his webcam, Zuckerberg congratulated the board on its work so far. Free expression, he said, has always been part of his company's mission-but sometimes people use their voices to put others in danger. Meta shouldn't be making so many decisions on speech by itself. Zuckerberg finished his talk with a wholehearted endorsement. "This has been important to me from the beginning," he said, "and I'm committed to the board for the long term."
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