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.

  • rabber@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Some of them do have mental illness, just like some straight people have mental illness

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      3 days ago

      the company now says it allows “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation

      “trans people disproportionately face mental health concerns including depression and anxiety” ✅ OK in my book

      “you are trans, so you are mentally ill” ❌ reductive, hateful, and a flat out lie, but approved by Meta now apparently

      • rabber@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        Isn’t that the same thing just said nicely vs not nicely

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          It is only the same thing if you are under the mistaken belief that all trans people are mentally ill. Is that what you believe?

          • rabber@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            No but I believe a higher percentage of trans people are mentally ill than non trans people.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The issue is, people want to argue LGBTQ+ people are like that due to mental illness, and thus either need to be corrected through torture usually disguised as treatment, or must be removed from society and/or the genepool.

    • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Like fuckerburg

      I also love how someone actually got offended and downvoted you for saying literal fact that a human, can have mental illness.

      • rabber@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        Everything gets downvoted on lemmy, that’s why I turned off downvoting in preferences and it’s a way better experience.

        • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
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          3 days ago

          Ohh you can do that? I should check if jebroa has it too, not like downvotes usually bother me.