The True Cost of Meta’s Integrity Layoffs  
This week, a bipartisan group of 41 attorneys general wrote a letter to Meta, calling on the company to address the flood of successful hacking attempts affecting individuals and small businesses. Unable to get help from Meta, constituents turn to their states, which have limited time and resources to address security failures. “We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company,” the state AGs wrote, before asking Meta to supply information about its staffing levels and existing safeguards. 
 
It wasn’t always this difficult for users to get support. In November 2022, Meta laid off a significant portion of its security, privacy, and integrity workers, in order to cut costs for its “year of efficiency.” Plans for a true customer support system were also scrapped. The impact of these layoffs was felt in a matter of months, as influencers and other large account holders reported unaddressed issues with Meta’s platforms. Even Meta Verified users have struggled to get help, despite paying $12 a month for the promise of “proactive impersonation monitoring” and “account support.” 
 
Beyond these layoffs, Meta has also failed to stop obvious bad actors from using its own platforms to buy and sell stolen accounts. Over a year ago, CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) released a reporton Facebook’s black market for “Business Manager” accounts, which are approved by Meta to run advertisements. The accounts were openly sold on Facebook Groups, despite the platform’s rules against such transactions, and often appeared to have been stolen from legitimate businesses. Yesterday, a search conducted by TTP confirmed that Meta has allowed this illicit activity to continue.