Meta Exec Apologizes to Conservative Activist

Robby Starbuck is suing for $5M, claiming company's AI defamed him
Posted May 1, 2025 12:00 AM CDT
Meta Exec Apologizes to Conservative Activist
FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, June 14, 2023.   (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

A conservative activist got a rare, personal apology from a top Meta exec over the tech giant's AI chatbot. Robby Starbuck, a former music video producer who has gained a following on the right with his anti-DEI videos, first alleged last year that Meta's chatbot was disseminating false and defamatory information about him, and he's now suing the company. In what NBC News calls an "unusual" public mea culpa from a corporate executive to an individual, Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, responded to the suit within hours. "This is clearly not how our AI should operate. We're sorry for the results it shared about you and that the fix we put in place didn't address the underlying problem," Kaplan, a longtime GOP operative only recently named to his Meta role, posted on X, per Fox Business.

Starbuck's suit came on the heels of Meta launching its standalone AI app, seen as a rival to ChatGPT. But Meta's AI has already been integrated into the company's products, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, and Starbuck says the chatbot falsely claimed he's a "white nationalist" who was arrested during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol; that he's anti-vaccine; and that he's linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory group. In response to Kaplan's apology, Starbuck said he needs more: namely, an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, changes to the company's AI (which he says continues to defame him), and compensation for the damages he suffered. (More Meta stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X