Hate speech and misinformation have been major issues for Facebook and Instagram, according to Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 review. Meta, the parent company, is now shifting its policy on permissible content.
The company will cease its collaboration with U.S. fact-checkers, which was initially intended to regain trust after incidents like Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Zuckerberg announced that restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender will be lifted, allowing terms like “mentally ill” or “abnormal” to describe transgender people and homosexuality.
This new, more conservative approach follows changes seen with Elon Musk at X, and aligns with Republican victories in the U.S. Meta will now have content reviewers based in Republican Texas rather than Democratic California. Europe may see similar policy changes, though they must comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, which balances free speech and illegal content.
The European Commission will evaluate Meta’s adjustments for conformity with these regulations.
Source: NOS