It wasn't just fact-checking that Meta scrapped from its platforms as it prepares for the second Trump administration. The social media giant has also loosened its rules around hate speech and abuse — again following the lead of Elon Musk's X — specifically when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity as well as immigration status.
The changes are worrying advocates for vulnerable groups, who say Meta's decision to scale back content moderation could lead to real-word harms. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that the company will “remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse," citing “recent elections” as a catalyst.
For instance, Meta has added the following to its rules — called community standards — that users are asked to abide by:
“We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.’” In other words, it is now permitted to call gay people mentally ill on Facebook, Threads and Instagram. Other slurs and what Meta calls “harmful stereotypes historically linked to intimidation” — such as Blackface and Holocaust denial — are still prohibited.
The Menlo Park, California-based company also removed a sentence from its “policy rationale” explaining why it bans certain hateful conduct. The now-deleted sentence said that hate speech “creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion, and in some cases may promote offline violence.”
“The policy change is a tactic to earn favor with the incoming administration while also reducing business costs related to content moderation,” said Ben Leiner, a lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business who studies political and technology trends. “This decision will lead to real-world harm, not only in the United States where there has been an uptick in hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms, but also abroad where disinformation on Facebook has accelerated ethnic conflict in places like Myanmar.”
Meta, in fact, acknowledged in 2018 that it didn't do enough to prevent its platform from being used to “incite offline violence” in Myanmar, fueling communal hatred and violence against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at Meta known for his expertise on curbing online harassment, said while most of the attention has gone to the company's fact-checking announcement Tuesday, he is more worried about the changes to Meta's harmful content policies.
That's because instead of proactively enforcing rules against things like self-harm, bullying and harassment, Meta will now rely on user reports before it takes any action. The company said it plans to focus its automated systems on “tackling illegal and high-severity violations, like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams.”
Béjar said that's even though “Meta knows that by the time a report is submitted and reviewed the content will have done most of its harm.”
“I shudder to think what these changes will mean for our youth, Meta is abdicating their responsibility to safety, and we won’t know the impact of these changes because Meta refuses to be transparent about the harms teenagers experience, and they go to extraordinary lengths to dilute or stop legislation that could help,” he said.
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.
The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames Hamas for their deaths because it says the militants operate in residential areas.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
In Lebanon, the parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Here's the latest:
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need to ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the agreement and to fund the post-war rebuilding.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday. The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded.
It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but did not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
On Thursday, dozens of people took part in funeral prayers outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for people killed in Israeli strikes the day before.
In the hospital morgue, a man could be seen kneeling and bidding farewell to a relative before slamming a refrigerator door in an outburst of grief.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old baby — and two women.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s interior affairs minister says a total of 52,622 refugees have returned to Syria from Turkey in the first month following Bashar Assad’s removal from power on Dec. 8.
Speaking at the Cilvegozu border crossing between Turkey and Syria on Thursday, Ali Yerlikaya said that more than 40,000 Syrians had returned with family members while some 11,000 individuals crossed into Syria alone.
“The voluntary, safe, honorable and regular returns have started to increase,” Yerlikaya said.
Turkey has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 — more than 3.8 million at its peak in 2022.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has further tightened restrictions on media coverage of the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip amid mounting concerns that soldiers could face legal action abroad.
The restrictions announced late Wednesday mainly apply to media interviews, and include a requirement that soldiers holding the rank of colonel or below only be filmed from behind and identified by their first initial. Those ranked brigadier general or above can be identified, but must receive prior guidelines.
Any filming in combat zones also must be approved by the military’s legal department.
Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza outside of embeds organized by the military.
The military recently warned soldiers against posting on social media after legal action over alleged war crimes was initiated against a soldier who was visiting Brazil.
Israel says it is operating in accordance with international law in Gaza and makes every effort to avoid harming civilians. But soldiers have posted dozens of photos and videos that appear to show them rummaging through homes and burning or blowing up residential buildings.
The military says it investigates and punishes any violations of military conduct. It says Hamas has built extensive military infrastructure in civilian areas, necessitating the demolition of buildings.
The army says it is working on additional guidelines for soldiers on what they can post to social media.
NEW YORK — Family members of Americans being held hostage in Gaza are planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Representatives for the family members said they plan to meet with officials in the incoming Trump administration and members of Congress to urge them to prioritize the safe return of the hostages.
Seven Americans are among the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Trump has sent his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks to work on their release. The Republican president-elect has threatened Hamas by warning that “All hell will break out” if the hostages aren't released.
Israeli soldiers attend the funeral of 1st Sgt. Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinian women look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Kareem Al-Dabaji mourns his brother Anas Al-Dabaji, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment in Deir Al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Lebanese lawmakers count the votes after casting their ballots to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, casts his vote to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Lebanese Parliament media office via AP)
Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
