Rights organizations are warning users of the threats posed by Meta’s decision to lift prohibitions against common discriminatory and hateful rhetoric on its platforms — a move that may ingratiate the tech giant with the incoming presidential administration, some claim.
Backtracking on years of digital safety work, the new policy no longer restricts users from language that would formally have been flagged as dehumanizing and pejorative, including likening protected characteristics — which includes “race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, and serious disease” — to inanimate objects or property, filth, and diseases.
In a huge blow to protections for LGBTQ users, Meta will no longer flag posts arguing for gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination. And the new policy uses startling outdated terminology to explain its reasoning: “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird,'” wrote Meta.
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In a statement to CNN, a Meta spokesperson said the company will still prohibit identity-based slurs and targeted attacks against certain groups, as well as enforce its bullying and harassment and violence policies. But rights groups are still ringing the alarm bells.
“Zuckerberg’s removal of fact-checking programs and industry-standard hate speech policies make Meta’s platforms unsafe places for users and advertisers alike,” wrote GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in an official statement. “Without these necessary hate speech and other policies, Meta is giving the green light for people to target LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and other marginalized groups with violence, vitriol, and dehumanizing narratives. With these changes, Meta is continuing to normalize anti-LGBTQ hatred for profit — at the expense of its users and true freedom of expression.”
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GLAAD’s annual Social Media Safety Index showed that Meta was already failing to protect LGBTQ users from online hate across its platforms.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) called the policy shift a threat to human rights and free speech. “Meta’s changes to its policies on gender and immigration content are dangerously vague, and have the potential to allow more transphobic and xenophobic content. As it implements those changes, the company should remember its obligations to human rights and the users that drive its platforms’ success, and the ways in which transphobic and anti-immigrant content — though legal — will absolutely chill the speech of members of those important communities,” wrote CDT Free Expression Project director Kate Ruane.
Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed said in a statement to CNN that the sweeping content moderation changes show the platform is recusing itself of responsibility for the safety of its users. “This will create a tidal wave of unchallenged lies — increasing the spread of hate, threatening the integrity of our communities, our democracy, and potentially harming public health and our kids,” said Ahmed.
Interviews with 10 current and former Meta employees conducted by Platformer show those inside the company are also concerned about the policy shift. “I can’t tell you how much harm comes from non-illegal but harmful content,” claimed a former Trust and Safety employee speaking anonymously. “This is not the climate change debate, or pro-life vs. pro-choice. This is degrading, horrible content that leads to violence and that has the intent to harm other people.”
“I really think this is a precursor for genocide,” said the employee. Meta platform Facebook has been accused by international human rights bodies like Amnesty International of promoting hateful rhetoric and violence against minority populations, including against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, that resulted in mass violence and even genocide.
Meta announced it was overhauling its Hateful Conduct policy on the heels of another Musk-esque change to its platform: The termination of its fact checking program in favor of expanded Community Notes. A recent report from User Mag found that Meta’s content moderation policies were blocking teen Instagram users from seeing posts with LGBTQ-related hashtags, seemingly for violating rules against “sexually explicit or suggestive” content. Instagram has responded that this was done in error.
