95bFM Changes to Meta are ‘to satisfy Trump and his supporters’
28 January, 2025
Interview by Evie Richardson, adapted by Sara Mckoy
Recently, the founder of Meta; the technology company that owns social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced several changes to the content moderation process on its social media platforms.
These changes include the replacement of third-party fact-checkers with a community notes system, similar to what is used on X (formally Twitter), the loosening of rules surrounding misinformation and hate speech, and the removal of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programme which encourage inclusive hiring of marginalised communities.
Zuckerberg justified the changes in a video uploaded to Facebook, in which he stated fact-checkers have been “too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created”.
Despite Zuckerberg's concerns, especially from US conservative social media users that fact-checking systems disproportionately target Republican content, research utilising data from more than sixteen countries found clear correlations between pro-Trump/conservative content and the sharing of low-quality news information.
These decisions have received mixed reactions, with many concerned about the consequences of how much easier misinformation will be able to spread on these platforms with this move, as well as what removing DEI will mean heading forward.
Senior Philosophy Lecturer at the University of Waikato, Dr Joe Ulatowski, told 95bFM’s The Wire that he believes these changes are a political move.
“I do think it was done largely to satisfy Donald Trump and his supporters.”
Ulatowski expresses concerns about the ‘community notes’ shift of the initiative, which he says is somewhat similar to philosopher John Stuart Mill’s ‘marketplace of ideas’.
This idea argues that anyone should be able to say what they like, however, members of the ‘marketplace,’ would challenge something incorrect, and by this principle, misinformation would go away.
However, Ulatowski says that in the case of Meta-owned platforms, misinformation will “circulate within an epistemic bubble”.
“Anytime that [hypothetical] piece[s] of misinformation [are] challenged by someone within the community, they are ostracised by the community; they are thrown out of the community.”
“People [will] just remain safely ensconced in their own community and they [will] deflect any information that does not fit with their worldview. That would include good information; the things that show that the misinformation is wrong.
As well as this, 2022 statistics show that 37.1% of those who work at Meta are women.
Regarding concerns some have about DEI providing unfair opportunities to those solely because of elements such as gender, Ulatowski believes these worries have no basis.
“[Findings such as these do not] strike me as preferential treatment of some groups over others.”
He says the removal of the DEI programme will be a disservice to marginalised communities currently employed or working towards a role at Meta, and as a whole.
“DEI programmes themselves will not end racism, sexism, or homophobia, but they obviously put a big dent in the elimination of [these forms of prejudice] by increasing the diversification of the workforce.”
