Leaked Meta rules: Users are free to post ‘Mexican immigrants are trash!’ or ‘Trans people are immoral’
Meta is now granting its users new freedom to post a wide array of derogatory remarks about races, nationalities, ethnic groups, sexual orientations, and gender identities, training materials obtained by The Intercept reveal.
Examples of newly permissible speech on Facebook and Instagram highlighted in the training materials include:
“Immigrants are grubby, filthy pieces of shit.”
“Gays are freaks.”
“Look at that tranny (beneath photo of 17 year old girl).”
The changes are part of a broader policy shift that includes the suspension of the company’s fact-checking program. The goal, Meta said Tuesday, is to “allow more speech by lifting restrictions.”
Meta’s newly appointed global policy chief Joel Kaplan described the effort in a statement as a means to fix “complex systems to manage content on our platforms, which are increasingly complicated for us to enforce.”
While Kaplan and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have couched the changes as a way to allow users to engage more freely in ideological dissent and political debate, the previously unreported policy materials reviewed by The Intercept illustrate the extent to which purely insulting and dehumanizing rhetoric is now accepted. [Continue reading…]
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is terminating major DEI programs, effective immediately — including for hiring, training and picking suppliers, according to a new employee memo obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The move is a strong signal to Meta employees that the company’s push to make inroads with the incoming Trump administration isn’t just posturing, but an ethos shift that will impact its business practices.
Context: Meta said it was changing course because the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” per a memo by Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources.
- The moves come just three days after Meta ended many of its efforts to fact-check and police speech on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
- The announcement also follows a host of public moves by tech companies and executives to align with the politics and cultural views of President-elect Trump and the MAGA movement.