Meta’s New Policy: Allowing More “Free Expression”
Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement this week that Meta would be pivoting its moderation policies to allow more “free expression” has been widely viewed as the company’s latest effort to appease President-elect Donald Trump. This follows a highly contentious four-year period between the two, which ended with Facebook banning Trump from its platform.
The new policy is seen as a shift away from now-undergoing scrutiny over its content-moderation apparatus, which has been criticized for being too restrictive. The changes are aimed at bringing political content back to users’ feeds and removing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender identity.
The change is also seen as a key move for Meta, as it aims to curry favor with the Republican Party. Since Trump’s election victory, Meta has taken numerous public steps to make amends with the former president, who had previously used the term “Zuckerschmuck” when referring to Zuckerberg and declared that Facebook was an “enemy of the people.”
The policy change has been met with criticism from employees, who have expressed concern that it may lead to more online abuse and attempts to intimidate marginalized communities. The new policy is set to take effect over the coming weeks and has been met with skepticism from many, including Facebook’s former vice president, Brian Boland.
Zuckerberg’s efforts to court Trump come as the company seeks to position itself as a major player in the field of artificial intelligence. In order to achieve this, it needs to build data centers and pursue policies that will allow it to fulfill its ambitions. As the new policy is seen as a key part of this effort, Meta is expected to be more willing to make broad policy changes, particularly after recently laying off 21,000 employees, or nearly a quarter of its workforce.
In addition to the policy change, Meta has also made other moves to appease Trump, including appointing a new policy vice president, Joel Kaplan, who has longstanding ties to the Republican Party. Kaplan has previously worked as a law clerk for the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and has been involved in Republican political campaigns.
The changes come as Meta continues to face criticism for its handling of disinformation and online content, with some experts warning that the new policy may be seen as “a recipe for disaster.” While the company’s former policy of strict moderation had been met with criticism for being too restrictive, the new policy is seen as a step back in terms of tackling online hate speech and other forms of harmful content.