Loosening already limited safeguards on social media platforms is not just damaging. It could ultimately prove deadly

Mark Zuckerberg famously boasted that Facebook had a saying: “Move fast and break things”. His product has not just destroyed industry models but also social mores and expectations of the reliability of information and, in the global south, has upended people’s lives. The technology writer Kara Swisher described him as “not just a technologist; he’s a social engineer”.

Meta’s Tuesday announcement shows that it still moves at speed. Having previously been pressured into insufficient improvements in moderation, it is abruptly scrapping factcheckers on platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, starting in the US, and loosening other content restrictions. This purportedly addresses overreach by moderators. Other controls remain. But the signal is clear. Its new guidelines will allow users to call others mentally ill on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity. Meta will also “recommend more political content based on ... personalized signals” – which sounds a lot like buttressing echo chambers.

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