“How to permanently delete Facebook”: Users are deleting accounts en masse

“How to permanently delete Facebook”: Users are deleting accounts en masse

Interest in searches related to leaving Meta’s platforms has skyrocketed this week, especially in the past three days.

Google searches on how to cancel and delete a Facebook, Instagram and Threads account have seen explosive growth in the US since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would end its third-party fact-checking system, relax its content moderation policy and roll back previous limits on the amount of political content in user feeds.

Experts see this move as an attempt to adapt to the incoming administration of Donald Trump and avoid political reprisals.

The consequences of Meta’s new policies could have serious implications for posts, hate speech and violence, and misinformation that can spread even faster than before on Meta’s platforms.

Google searches for terms like “how to delete Facebook permanently” reached a maximum score of 100, the highest degree of interest according to Google Trends, with an increase in interest of more than 5,000 percent compared to previous periods.

Meta introduced fact-checking and content moderation policies after years of spreading misinformation and violent speech on its platforms, which caused real-world harm, Tech Crunch reports.

In 2021, Zuckerberg stated that the Meta community did not want politics and conflict to take over their experience on the platforms, leading to the company’s efforts to reduce political discourse.

Last year, Meta also stopped proactively recommending political content to users on Instagram and Threads, which was controversial among creators and users. Now Meta will re-introduce political content into feeds.

Zuckerberg said the new policies are an attempt to restore freedom of expression on Meta’s platforms, echoing Elon Musk’s comments about his platform X. Meta’s CEO said their platforms will replace third-party fact-checking with a community notes system, similar to Platform X, in which users they can flag posts they feel need additional context.

Google searches for “alternatives to Facebook” also spiked, as did searches for Bluesky and Mastodon, two decentralized social networks that have gained popularity since Elon Musk took over Twitter.

Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko this week criticized Meta’s content moderation changes, calling them “a threat to anyone with a conscience.”

Source: Agencies

Photo: Pexels, Beta/AP

Source: bizlife.rs