Meta: This shocking content is now allowed

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, recently announced drastic changes to its content policies. These significantly loosen the moderation of posts on the platforms. They mark a profound change in Meta’s moderation policy. Much less content moderation, the re-approval of political content, a clear orientation towards Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announces this realignment with sometimes alarmingly populist rhetoric. It plays into the hands of millions of users, but also the new US government.

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In addition to removing these protective mechanisms, Meta has broken down other key barriers. Misinformation can now spread unhindered, and once-strict rules against hate speech have been watered down. Loud Wired Numerous passages were revised, added or deleted. We’ll show you what content is now permitted – and what alarming consequences this has for digital discourse.

Meta opens the door for hate speech and discrimination – This content is now allowed

According to a report by Wired, the The Verge has taken up, Meta now allows, among other things:

• Mental Illness Claims: It is permitted to label people as “mentally ill” or “abnormal” based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Gender-based occupational restrictions: Content that calls for certain occupations, such as military, law enforcement, or teaching, to be restricted to one gender is permitted as long as it relates to sexual orientation or religious beliefs.
• Repeal of existing protections: A section that previously explicitly prohibited referring to transgender or non-binary people as “it” or depicting women as “household items, property, or objects in general” has been removed.
• Expanded definitions for acceptable speech: While previously only health and support groups were listed as safe spaces in the guidelines, the new language now also allows:
  • Gender-specific restrictions on access to certain places such as toilets or schools.
  • Demands for gender or sexuality-based exclusions from professions or institutions.
  • Offensive or discriminatory statements in the context of political or religious debates, particularly on topics such as transgender rights, immigration or homosexuality.
  • Degrading language towards one gender in the context of personal relationship conflicts.

Critics rightly warn that these changes encourage the spread of hate speech and discrimination on the platform and put marginalized groups at greater risk.

Further relaxed restrictions

• Removal of COVID-19 protective measures: The section that expressly prohibited attacking people or groups by claiming they have or are spreading the new coronavirus has been deleted. This means that there is no protective measure against pandemic-related misinformation.
• Removal of references to previous guidelines: A link to one Blog post from 2017in which Meta discussed the “difficult questions” when dealing with hate speech, has been removed.
• Linguistic weakening of the term hate speech: Several references to “hate speech” have been replaced by the term “hateful behavior”, which is seen as a semantic softening of the previous guidelines.

LGBTQ community warns of growing hatred, advertising partners are hesitant

These relaxations have met with considerable criticism. Sarah Kate EllisPresident and CEO of the LGBTQ+ organization GLAAD, expressed concern:

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. Fact-checking and hate speech policies protect free speech.

Advertisers are also worried. Some commented opposite Business Insidersaid the changes could increase the risk for brands to appear in inappropriate contexts. However, most do not plan to reduce their spending on Meta as the platform still offers significant reach.

Meta’s decision has raised significant concerns about a possible increase in misinformation and hate speech on the platforms. Numerous critical posts make it clear how drastic the consequences of Meta’s realignment could be. They underline the growing outrage over the company’s change of course.