Meta appoints anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor

Summary

Robby Starbuck is leading campaigns against companies he deems ‘woke’. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images) Social media conglomerate Meta has appointed right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck to advise the company on preventing political bias in AI, after the company settled a defamation lawsuit with him. Robby Starbuck, a former music video director turned failed congressional candidate and MAGA Republican pundit, is the face of the right’s anti-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) movement in its self-imposed ‘War on Woke’. Starbuck’s mission to bring “sanity back to corporate America” via intense public pressure campaigns and boycotts has seen several big name US brands like Walmart, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s, Stanley Black & Decker and John Deere – just to name a few – all roll back DEI policies. The anti-woke campaigner brought legal action against Meta – owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – after the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot falsely stated he took part in the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021, seeking $5 million in damages. As part of the settlement, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, Starbuck will advise Meta on how to prevent political bias in its AI. “Since engaging on these important issues with Robby, Meta has made tremendous strides to improve the accuracy of Meta AI and mitigate ideological and political bias,” a joint statement from Meta and Starbuck reads. It has not been revealed if Robby Starbuck was paid as part of the settlement. Robby Starbuck has led a campaign against DEI (Jason Davis/Getty Images for DailyWire+) Starbuck’s appointment comes six months after Meta updated its Hateful Conduct policy with a raft of controversial changes in January. The changes saw Meta set out that it would no longer moderate “divisive” issues, like immigration and gender, and end its independent fact checking programme by moving to a community notes system similar to the one used on Elon Musk’s platform,...