Meta, Under Zuckerberg, Updates Policies to Allow Mental Illness Allegations Based on Gender, Sexual Orientation Amid Trump's Incoming Administration

Jan 9, 2025, 10:34 AM

Meta Platforms Inc., led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has updated its content moderation policies, allowing users to make allegations of mental illness or abnormality based on gender or sexual orientation. This change is part of a broader overhaul of Meta's approach to moderating speech on its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The company has also eliminated its fact-checking partnerships, replacing them with a system similar to X's 'Community Notes', and adjusted its automated systems to focus on extreme violations such as child sexual exploitation and terrorism. These policy changes come in response to criticisms of censorship and are intended to align with mainstream discourse on topics like immigration, gender identity, and gender. The updates have raised concerns among advocates for vulnerable groups, who fear that the loosening of content moderation could lead to increased hate speech and real-world harms, especially as they coincide with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.