Meta Oversight co-chair ‘concerned’ by moderation changes: ‘Hate speech can lead to real life harm’

The co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Board has said she and others are ‘very concerned’ by the company’s decision to drop independent fact checkers and moderation, citing the potential impacts on minority groups.

On Tuesday (7 January) Mark Zuckerberg – chief executive of Facebook and Instagram parent Meta – announced huge changes to the company’s content policies. The changes will see Meta no longer moderate “divisive” issues, like immigration and gender, and end its independent fact checking programme by moving to a community notes system similar to what is seen on Elon Musk’s platform, X.

A move towards “restoring free expression” on Meta’s social media platforms, updated guidelines state users will now be able to call LGBTQ+ ‘mentally ill’ simply for being LGBTQ+.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme about the changes, Meta Oversight Board co-chair and former prime minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt said: “There are huge problems in what Mark Zuckerberg has announced yesterday and that’s why the existence of an oversight board is so important.

“We welcome looking into fact checking. We welcome that message, looking into the complexity and perhaps over-enforcement.

“We’re very concerned about gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, trans people’s rights on the platforms because we are seeing many instances where hate speech can lead to real-life harm, so we will be watching that space very carefully.”

Thorning-Schmidt, however, did welcome some changes and said “Meta systems have been too complex” where there has been an “over-enforcement” with users ending up in “Facebook jail.”

What is the Meta Oversight Board?

The Oversight Board is an independent body that people can appeal to if they disagree with decisions the company has made about content on Facebook, Threads or Instagram.

The board is made up of distinguished professionals from around the world. As well as Helle Thorning-Schmidt, other members include Tawakkol Karman, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and writer Khaled Mansour.

“We’re going to get back to our roots”

In a video announcing the changes, Zuckerberg said: “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.

“More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the US.”

He added third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and “governments and legacy media” are pushing “to censor more and more.”

Many people critical of the change, however, have noted the revised polices come just a few weeks ahead of president-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term.

Zuckerberg and other tech executives have been accused of attempting to get into the incoming president’s good graces, with Trump having frequently accused platforms of censoring his and other conservative voices – despite evidence to the contrary.

Also speaking to the BBC, tech journalist and author Kara Swisher said the changes were a “cynical move” by Zuckerberg.

“Facebook does whatever is in its self-interest”, Swisher said.

“He wants to kiss up to Donald Trump, and catch up with Elon Musk in that act.”