According to leaked internal documents obtained by The Intercept, Meta admits that its censorship rules have stifled legitimate political speech.
Zuckerberg’s belated mea culpa
Only two months ago, in an interview with Lex Fridman, Mark Zuckerberg confessed how Facebook applied constant censorship towards certain "uncomfortable" but true content during the pandemic period.
Now, while Europe fears a crackdown on freedom thanks to the entry into force of the Digital Service Act, it seems that Meta, the multinational that controls Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, is back-tracking on censorship policies.
The Meta Blacklist
The Intercept, an American investigative newspaper, has brought to light internal documents at Meta, showing how a blacklist actually works and what its applications are.
According to the documents, Meta employees are aware that censorship policies often silenced legitimate opinions expressed through Zuckerberg’s social networks.
Meta’s "Dangerous Organizations and Individuals" policy, or DOI, is based on a secret blacklist of thousands of people and groups, ranging from terrorists and drug cartels to armies rebels, and musical acts. For years, the policy prohibited the more than one billion people who use Facebook and Instagram from engaging in "praise, support, or representation" of anyone on the list.
Meta’s Double Standard
However, the application of these rules has raised serious concerns about double standards in assessments. For example, the Palestinian political movement Hamas is blacklisted, which has led to the silencing of Palestinian users. This is particularly controversial given that Hamas has gained political control of the Gaza Strip through regular elections since 2006.
Furthermore, Meta has made exception to the use of hate language against the Russian population and the glorification of the Azov Battalion, raising further concerns about the consistency and double weight of his policies.
However, it appears that Meta is now intent on revising these rules, admitting in an internal document, that their previous approach caused blacklisted organizations to censor legitimate political and social speech.
How will censorship policy change?
Mark Zuckerberg’s proposal is to distinguish between the direct glorification of blacklisted organizations and a simple reference to them in a broader context of political debate. This represents a step back from the previous draconian approach, but fundamental questions remain about Meta’s censorship policies.
One of the main concerns is that Meta will continue to delegate the review of online content to so-called fact checkers, individuals who are often anonymous and lack the necessary skills to accurately evaluate the content, if not even ideologically aligned, embodying the figure of new digital inquisitors.
This raises questions about the transparency and objectivity of content moderation on such wide-ranging platforms.
A way to emulate X?
Meta’s move could also be seen as a response to the change of direction of other social platforms such as Twitter, which has adopted more liberal policies regarding freedom of expression to attract new users. Recently, CEO Linda Yaccarino seems to have embraced new "zero tolerance" policies on social media.
This may have forced Meta to reconsider its policies, but it remains to be seen whether these changes will be enough to regain the trust of users concerned about freedom of expression online.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-09-05 08:00:00. Original title: Censura: Meta rivede la sua lista nera segreta delle organizzazioni e degli individui ritenuti “pericolosi”
