Employees react as Meta’s new policy allows LGBTQ+ to be called mentally ill

1 hr ago

Karah Rucker Anchor

By Karah Rucker (Anchor), Roey Hadar (Producer), Harry Fogle (Video Editor)

In the days following Meta’s changes to its free speech and moderation policies, LGBTQ+ employees are calling out their bosses. Tech outlet 404 Media spoke with five current Meta employees who said others have taken to internal message boards to raise concerns, with one employee describing it as “total chaos internally.”

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Meta’s new guidelines, announced on Tuesday, Jan. 7, by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, reduce the company’s moderation on sites including Facebook and Instagram. In some cases, the company said it would explicitly allow language it had previously banned.

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“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said while announcing the policy. “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”

Employees said one change that sparked particular anger is allowing users to claim that being LGBTQ+ denotes mental illness.

“We do allow 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,’” Meta’s updated policy on hateful conduct says.

LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD called the changes alarming. The group said that the term “transgenderism” was a particular red flag, describing it as “hateful.”

404 Media’s report says employees criticized Meta for making the changes without much input from its workforce.

The Intercept also reported it received leaked training materials showing specific examples of allowable posts.

The news organization alleges the company displayed examples of stereotypes about various ethnic groups as examples of what is now permissible. The Intercept’s report also alleges that the documents specifically say that one anti-transgender slur no longer violated the policies.

404 Media’s report said Meta did not immediately respond to questions about the new policies.

A Meta spokesperson referred The Intercept to a blog post about the policy by Meta’s newly-appointed policy head, Joel Kaplan.

“We’re getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate,” Kaplan wrote. “It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms.”

Tags: Big Tech, Censorship, Facebook, First Amendment, Instagram, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Rights, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social Media, Tech, Transgender

KARAH RUCKER: In the days following Meta’s changes to its free speech and moderation policies, LGBTQ employees at the company are calling out their bosses.

Tech outlet 404 Media spoke with five current Meta employees who said others have taken to internal message boards to raise concerns, including one employee who described it as “total chaos internally.”

Meta’s new guidelines, announced Tuesday by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pull back on the company’s moderation on sites including Facebook and Instagram. In some cases, the company said it will explicitly allow some language that had previously been banned.

MARK ZUCKERBERG / CEO, Meta: We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.

KARAH RUCKER: Employees shared that one change sparked particular anger: the company allowing users to allege that being LGBTQ means a person is mentally ill.

“We do allow 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,” Meta’s updated policy on hateful conduct now says.

LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD called the changes alarming, saying that the use of the term “transgenderism” was a particular red flag. The group said the term is “hateful” and “right-wing.”

404 Media’s report says employees also raised issues with Meta making the changes without evidence of any internal discussion about how the new policy came about.

And on Thursday evening, The Intercept reported it received a leak of training materials showing specific hypothetical examples of what posts can be allowed.

They did not release the documents for public viewing but allege the company displayed examples of stereotypes about many different ethnic groups as examples of what is now allowed.

The Intercept’s report also alleges that the documents specifically say that one anti-transgender slur no longer violated their policies.

404 Media’s report said Meta did not immediately respond to questions about the new policies, while a Meta spokesperson referred The Intercept to comments in a blog post about the policy by Meta’s global public policy head Joel Kaplan.

Kaplan wrote, “We’re getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent 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.”

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Karah Rucker.

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