Is Meta’s anti-politics stance sustainable?
Meta: In being anti-politics, Meta might create as much of a problem as it tries to avoid: in how the company defines what is “political” and how that definition shapes the experiences of users. This week, Meta’s independent Oversight Board warned that the company was over-enforcing its content moderation policies. The issue only became public … The post Is Meta’s anti-politics stance sustainable? appeared first on Asaase Radio.
Meta: In being anti-politics, Meta might create as much of a problem as it tries to avoid: in how the company defines what is “political” and how that definition shapes the experiences of users.
This week, Meta’s independent Oversight Board warned that the company was over-enforcing its content moderation policies. The issue only became public after Facebook removed a Facebook post
showing an altered image, which was based on the 1994 film “Dumb and Dumber,” containing doctored images of the faces of U.S. presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her
running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, with caption and emojis. Meta initially removed the
post under its Bullying and Harassment policy, for prohibiting photoshopped images when used in a
derogatory way. After the user appealed to the Oversight Board, Meta acknowledged that this removal was wrong and restored the post.
It also frowned on Meta for “overenforcement of the Bullying and Harassment policy, especially when
it comes to satire and political speech.” It warned of the risk that this may lead to over-takedown of
political speech, especially during election periods, and reduce the public’s ability to criticize political figures through satire.
While Meta did not explicitly blame this removal on its anti-political stance, the situation simply shows
the consequence of its attempts to minimize political content. There is a concern among users that
overly aggressive content moderation could hamper useful discussions in Meta’s policy about
important global and political events.
This issue also appears to bleed down into Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, which has faced
criticism for sidestepping political discussions. On that note, one would expect Threads, of all places,
to be more filled with political conversation, especially considering the timeliness of such topics. Yet, it
seems that Meta’s avoidance of politics is bound and determined to prevent real-time debate on key topics from happening on Threads and, because of that, will nip any potential growth of it as a news
platform. Twitter, now X, was once popular for its live coverage of political news but has slid into right-wing conspiracy theories and Republican-heavy content under the guidance of Elon Musk,
driving some users to alternatives.
For now, Threads is failing to perform as a vibrant news hub, and Meta may take this opportunity to revisit its suppression of political content, especially in Threads.
Then there is murkiness around how Meta defines “political” content; some users on Threads have
claimed that they were being censored for merely mentioning political candidates. The frustration that has led to an uproar inside could challenge its heavy-handed approach in future growth.
This likelihood further demonstrates the complexity of Meta’s role in the media landscape, given that
the governments are still trying to work out ways to make the company pay news publishers-a salve despite its retreat from political and news content.
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The post Is Meta’s anti-politics stance sustainable? appeared first on Asaase Radio.
