What if I told you that Meta’s social networks were going to become a much more fertile ground for discriminatory speech and disinformation? This is unfortunately what is emerging with the latest changes to the moderation policy announced by Mark Zuck-machine-berg which will inevitably have major repercussions on our use of Facebook for the oldest among you, of Instagram for the most narcissistic among you and of course Threads for the most… no, it’s true there’s no one on Threads.
Mark Zuckerberg and his team have just announced a complete overhaul of their approach to moderation, with changes that are already controversial. Ditch the professional fact-checkers, and hello the totally pumped-up community ratings of X.
The most worrying, as you can imagine, is hidden above all in the changes in the policy of “Hateful conduct”. If you go read them, you’ll see that Meta now explicitly allows some previously prohibited content. Are authorized:
- Allegations characterizing sexual orientation or gender identity as “mental illness”.
- Religious arguments proposing to exclude certain people (hello women!) from professions such as teaching or others…
- Discriminatory comments regarding access to certain spaces based on gender or sexual orientation.
- Everything that is dehumanization of minorities
Incredible right?
These changes obviously occur in a particular political context. First of all, a marked rapprochement with Donald Trump as his presidency approaches (a real Zuckboules this Mark). Then his small $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration fund… What a stingy guy, he could have given more anyway… Without forgetting the appointment of Joel Kaplan, a Republican figure, at the head of global policy and the surprising relocation of the moderation teams from California to Texas, because you understand in California, mentalities are too “woke” whereas in Texas, you can go crazy with your big gun, there’s the death penalty, it’s so cool, you can say racist, homophobic or sexist nonsense without being criticized by the neighbors, you can have an abortion but only in the trash cans from a McDonald’s.
Meta obviously justifies these modifications by a desire to align with the “discours mainstream” (understand fascist) and reduce “excessive censorship” (understand the moderation of bullshit written by idiots) often criticized by the American right. However, scientific studies show that the stricter moderation of right-wing content is not linked to political bias but to the fact that they actually share more false information.
These new policies raise serious concerns, particularly regarding the spread of disinformation, because the absence of a fact checker and reduced moderation means even more bullshit and nasty filth on the networks. Of course, who says false information, says manipulation of information, therefore enough to influence future elections for example… And then as the dogs will be able to let loose like on
This will therefore contribute to further normalizing hate speech, even justifying violent actions and completely ruining public debate because as you know, you cannot play chess with a pigeon.
In short, if these changes at Meta worry you, strength to strength, we’re in this together. And if, on the contrary, you’re happy about it, it’s because you still have a little work to do in terms of personal development in order to prevent people, unfortunately, from uncorking a bottle of champagne the day you die.
Source and thanks to Yannick for the pigeon photo.
