Meta Platforms, Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, just kicked off a daring new plan. This effort is an important step toward addressing the avalanche of copy-paste junk that has permeated its platforms. This decision comes amid growing criticism over the company’s policies that have reportedly wrongfully disabled user accounts, prompting a petition with nearly 30,000 signatures from disgruntled users.
This is especially true in light of a recent massive user outcry against Meta’s repeated use of automated systems to enforce policies. They do not want to be caricatured and crushed underfoot by this move. The lack of human support from Meta has exacerbated frustrations, particularly among small businesses that rely on these platforms for visibility and engagement.
The enforcement of this policy will focus on any posts, captions, images, or videos that are just copied and pasted or reused over and over from other creators. In fact, Meta has called this type of content “garbage.” Consistent with their new policy, the company has scrubbed about 10 million profiles that impersonate popular content creators this year alone. It has made enforcement moves against roughly 500,000 accounts participating in what Twitter calls “spammy behavior or fake engagement.”
As announced by Meta, it will be a phased rollout over the next few months. This provides Facebook creators a bit of breathing room to get accustomed to the new rules of engagement. This timeline doesn’t do much to relieve concerns about what has already happened. Users remain fearful of getting banned from Instagram and Facebook en masse for imaginary policy infringements. Many users attribute these issues to Meta’s artificial intelligence algorithms, which they argue have not been finely tuned enough to distinguish between genuine content sharing and violations.
These provisions protect more than just private users. We know of several small businesses that have suffered significant losses due to being wrongfully disabled. Especially in our post-pandemic world where so many businesses have turned to social media to meet customers where they are. When they’re locked out of their accounts, they’re losing revenue and facing a drop in customer engagement.
Even in the face of these clear challenges, Meta is plowing ahead with its war against unoriginal content. This is an effort by the company, of course, to make the user experience more genuine by shooting down the reuse of other people’s work. Yet as it slowly rolls out these changes, it’s coming under increasing fire for its heavy-handed approach to automated policy enforcement. Users on Facebook and Instagram have begun to raise alarm in response to the heavy-handed enforcement of these policies. Instead, they are calling for a detailed, balanced system that would require human oversight.
And amid all of this, Meta is trying to find their way through a stormy sea. The platform needs to balance interests of original content creators with the needs of its massive user base. This user-led backlash has served as a call to action and catalyzed conversations both internally and externally about increasing transparency in enforcement of policies. Many have advocated for more transparent communication about why an account is disabled and clearer pathways to appeal.
