On 7 January, Meta ended its fact-checking program, introducing the “Community Notes” system that allows users to add context to posts. This has relaxed restrictions on sensitive topics like immigration and gender, which might permit hate speech under the guise of political discourse. An analytical commentary compares these shifts to the surge of hate speech on X, where dismantling the Trust and Safety team resulted in a 50% increase in such content targeting marginalized groups, and argues that platforms, rather than fact-checkers, must remove misleading content. Tech leaders appear to yield to conservative pressures, jeopardizing democracy and marginalized groups, prompting the need to advocate for collective action against hate speech and the EU’s Digital Services Act as a potential remedy, stressing community-building. Read the full commentary here.
Source: Meduza
