Meta now lets users say gay and trans people have ‘mental illness’
Meta now lets users say gay and trans people have ‘mental illness’
Meta rolled out a number of changes to its “Hateful Conduct” policy Tuesday as part of a sweeping overhaul of its approach toward content moderation.
Meta announced a series of major updates to its content moderation policies today, including ending its fact-checking partnerships and “getting rid” of restrictions on speech about “topics like immigration, gender identity and gender” that the company describes as frequent subjects of political discourse and debate. “It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms,” Meta’s newly appointed chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, wrote in a blog post outlining the changes.
In an accompanying video, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the company’s current rules in these areas as “just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”
In tandem with this announcement, the company made a number of updates across its Community Guidelines, an extensive set of rules that outline what kinds of content are prohibited on Meta’s platforms, including Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Some of the most striking changes were made to Meta’s “Hateful Conduct” policy, which covers discussions on immigration and gender.
In a notable shift, the company now says it allows “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.’”
In other words, Meta now appears to permit users to accuse transgender or gay people of being mentally ill because of their gender expression and sexual orientation. The company did not respond to requests for clarification on the policy.
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People need to stop using Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and Instagram.
WhatsApp
Buddy, I fucking wish I could, but I need it because it is the de facto communication method in Brazil.
I feel you bro
That sucks, get people to switch to signal or telegram.
Easier said than done. I couldn't get even my mom on telegram, which is "the same thing". For work, simply not possible, I don't call the shots.
I wrote my deletion post just a few hours ago actually. Cited sexism, homophobia, anti-immigration, no more fact-checking etc. I said I'd leave the account up for a few days in case anyone wanted to arrange a way to stay in contact (since I've had friends there since 2007), but after that I'm gone.
I remember back in 2017 or so when I left Facebook and did the same, only a handful arranged to keep contact otherwise. Ever since if I’ve met anyone from those years by accident, they’ve been very bitter that I just left them and didn’t stay in contact.
So just kind of a warning here, not everyone will be normal about it. It’s truly weird since I did the same; left a clear announcement I’d leave and hoped those interested would get in touch to figure out another way. Still so many, even after so many years, can feel betrayed and hurt because of that.
Thanks for the heads up. I can see how that would happen. In my case I posted literally once or twice a year since 2020 or so, and the last time I talked to anyone other than family was 6 months ago. I have several dozen "friends" that will see the post, but leaving likely won't affect much other than them being able to see photographs on FB/Instagram. Everyone I actually interact with knows other ways to contact me.
Cite this article before you go.
I cannot believe how brave you are. It takes a lot of courage to quit post on facebook then report to Lemmy that you quit posted on Facebook.
It was directly related to the post above. "People should do this" -> "I actually just finished doing that." It's not like I came here to brag out of nowhere. Why are you ignoring that in favor of picking a fight?
They won't.
Facebook, Instagram and Threads are easy, I was never on Threads and largely used the others for following people and groups rather than actively posting.
WhatsApp is the tricky one as all my friends and family are on there and it is pretty important. I could get some people to move to Matrix but not everyone. Luckily, it's the one that is the most difficult to enshittify. Still...
Get the WhatsApp crowd on signal. It takes like 30 seconds.
Meta is bad, but why leave WhatsApp? No ads, no moderation, no interference.
Data collection and why on earth should we trust them after all we’ve seen?
It’s painless to swap. Signal takes seconds to setup and can comb through your contacts just as easily while being infinitely more secure and trustworthy. It’s not like leaving one major social media platform for another and having to deal with the friction of swapping.
I'm with you on Signal. Problem is most of WhatsApp users see Telegram, not Signal, as an alternative because it had more coverage over time, while Signal had zero.
Yup! When I announced I’d leave WhatsApp back in the day, even my (old) parents and some (even older) relatives proceeded to download signal just to stay in touch with me.
Sure, I miss some news or announcements that they share in the big WhatsApp groups, but mostly I’m as up to date as everyone.
Most of my friends did the same, but I noticed my age group (and younger) seem more adaptable here and very quickly figured everything out, and we got some groups entirely moved there. I suppose they feel okay having multiple apps for one thing, as opposed to the older gens, who struggle to learn one thing properly and try their best to just stick with it until eternity.
Haven’t missed WhatsApp a bit, it was the least impactful of all of the meta suite (and others) I left behind back in 2017(?) or so.