Off the record doesn't mean completely secret. And it doesn't necessarily mean it will be under NDA (although it also happens sometimes). If anytime a major company is drawn to talk about a heated subject they get hammered by the news cycle and their stocks tank, or their investors get the shakes - they will stop coming to the table to discuss issues.
Off the record used to mean something in journalism. That's the "off the record" I'm talking about. If Meta has something else in mind - take issue with it then. But give them the benefit of the doubt until then. "Off the record" gets shit done in a world of red tape, woke hysteria and cancel culture.
Now, although I'm not pro MetaBook, I'd rather they come to the table, even if I think they don't do it in good faith. It means that they can be called on their bullshit, and get their response. Even if that response will not be quoted to the rest of us, or broadcast to the world to see - it's better than the current situation, where people just speculate about what Meta's public-facing, public-relations-sanitized statements actually mean.