Will Meta's removal of fact-checking fuel Online hate?
Zuckerberg admits that the change is a trade-off
By: Deena Yellin
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Meta's announcement Tuesday [01/07/2025] that it would scrap its fact-checking system was hailed by social media users who said they were tired of being sent to "Facebook jail." But it also prompted fears that it will open the door to more Online hate.
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The social media giant said Tuesday [01/07/2025] that it would change the way it moderates Online content, replacing human fact-checkers with "community notes," similar to the system sued by Elon Musk's X.
..... Meta, which runs Facebook, Instagram and Threads, has employed fact-checkers to review content since 2016. But many people, particularly Republicans politicians, have been critical of such efforts.
..... Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an Online announcement that he wants complex issues - such as immigration and gender - to be handled responsibly and that Meta's new approach would "restore free expression." He also said he thought third-party fact-checkers were "too plastically biased."
..... The change comes as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump - who has criticized Meta for its fact-checking policy - prepares to take office later this month. [01/2025]
..... Zuckerburg admitted that the change is a trade-off. "The reality is that we will catch less bad stuff," Zuckerberg said in his recored statement.
..... But it also means that fewer innocuous things will be removed by accident and users won't wrongly end up in what some call "Facebook jail" - the temporary or permanent suspension of an account because a user violated the social media platform's guidelines.
..... "Now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I'm excited to take it," Zuckerberg said, after slamming Europe and China for their censorship of the company's app.
..... Not everyone was pleased by this Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy nonprofit group, wrote on X that "Facebook and Instagram users are about to see a lot more dangerous misinformation in there feeds."
..... The lack of oversight could put marginalized groups that have endured a rise in hate speech in recent years, including Jews and Muslims, at increased risk, since more users will be able to post content without consequences.
..... Rep rots show that antisemitic material is easy to find on social media, as 62% of American Jews reported seeing or hearing anti-Jewish sentiments Online in the previous year, [2024] said an American Jewish Committee report released last February. [2024] Many antisemitism watchdogs predicted that the shift at Meta will make the problem worse.
..... Tal-Or Cohn Montemayor, the founder and executive director of CyberWell, a nonprofit that combated combats Online antisemitism and holocaust denial, said the change represents a "systematic lowering of the bar on how Meta intends to enforce their Community Standards against hate speech and harassment Online. It comes as the Jewish community continues to experience one of the worst onslaughts of widespread Hew-hatred in both Online and off-line spaces."
..... The change means that hate speech on Meta will no longer be flagged, which places more onus on Meta users to report a violation, she said.
..... But the new plan "doesn't make any commitments of developing more robust resources available to them or guaranteeing a higher probability that a human content moderator will even review their report."
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"This change means one thing," Cohen Montemayor continued. It's "very in line with the trend of both the quantity and quality of content that we have seen on X since Musk acquired Titters - more hate speech, more politicized content, more silos and less effective responses from the platforms."
..... The rise in Online harassment has been mirrored by an inverse in problems lifeline. New Jersey has set records in recent years for bias incidents, the state Attorney General's Office reported. Black, Jewish and Hispanic residents are among those most targeted, but the latest data has also showed high levels of reported anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents amid the tensions of the Israel-Hamas war.
..... On Tuesday, [01/07/2025] the Inman-Defamaiton League, which tracks bias and violence against the Jewish community, also expressed concern over Meta's change, asserting that the company had failed to respond to reports of antisemitic content on Facebook since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel.
..... "It is mind-blowing how one of the most profitable companies in the world, operating with such sophisticated technology, is taking significant steps back in terms of addressing antisemitism, hate, misinformation, and protecting vulnerable and marginalized group, Online," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.
..... But some social media users welcomed the change. Deborah Blaiburg of Teaneck, [NJ] who has 2,400 followers on Facebook, said the whenever she reported antisemitic content to Meta moderators, they said it didn't go against guidelines. Yet she was put in "Facebook jail" for speaking out about Jewish issues, she said.
..... Blaiburg said her account was reported after she wrote about a controversial walkout in support of Palestinians by Teaneck High School students.
..... "There's so much Jew hate Online already, and nothing has been dun about it," she said