Meta changed its approach to US moderation on Tuesday, abandon fact-checkingannounced plans to Transfer your trust and security teamsAnd perhaps most impressively, Updating your hateful conduct policyAs reported wiredA lot of text has been updated, added, or removed, but here are some of the changes we encountered.
These two sections outlining the speech (written or visual) are newly added:
Given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality, and the common non-serious use of words like “weird”, we allow accusations of mental illness or abnormality based on gender or sexual orientation.
We allow content that debates gender-based limitations of military, law enforcement, and teaching jobs. We also allow content based on sexual orientation when the content is based on religious beliefs.
Another section that specifically bans referring to transgender or non-binary people as “it” or referring to women as “household objects or property or objects in general” has been removed entirely.
The opening statement that the policies are “designed to give space for” which previously only listed health or positive support groups, has also changed (new additions marked). bold,
people sometimes use gender- or gender-specific language When discussing access to spaces that are often limited by sex or gender, such as access to bathrooms, specific schools, specific military, law enforcement, or teaching roles and health or support groups. At other times, they call for boycotts or use derogatory language in the context of discussing political or religious topics, such as when discussing transgender rights, immigration, or homosexuality. Finally, sometimes people curse a penis in the context of a romantic break-up. Our policies are designed to make room for this type of speech.
The section that specifically bans targeting people or groups “with claims that they have or are spreading the novel coronavirus” has also been removed.
a link to This 2017 blog post Meta faces regarding “difficult questions” dealing with hate speech have been removed, and some references to hate speech have now been changed to “hateful conduct”.
The policy still says that content that denies access to places and social services “based on protected characteristics” is not allowed, but there is also a new exception (added text in). bold,
…except for sex or gender-based exclusion Usually from places limited by gender or sex, such as toilets, sports and play leagues, health and support groups, and specific schools
Even before these changes, LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD reported last year Meta often failed to remove posts that violated its hate speech policies. Now, even the guardrails that were put in place to protect people from Internet harassment are disappearing.
“Without these necessary hate speech and other policies, Meta is giving people the green light to target LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and other marginalized groups with violence, vitriol, and dehumanizing narratives. With these changes, Meta continues 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. Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement responding to the changes.
a note from meta New policy chief Joel Kaplan Said“We are getting rid of many of the restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of constant political discussion and debate. It is not right that things can be said on TV or on the Congress platform, but not on our platform.” wired It also reports that the changes “indiscriminately” targeted organizations that partnered with Meta in its now-rejected moderation efforts, with an unnamed editor at a fact-checking organization saying the impact of the decision was ” “Is going to get us out eventually.”