Meta Is Shifting Away from Political Content—Here’s Why That’s a Problem.
This month, social media managers and content creators have started seeing the results of two major changes on Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook, the ‘News’ tab is no more. The platform had already removed the news tab in a few other countries. Now, US Boomers will no longer find the news section on their Facebook apps. And Boomers aren’t the only ones seeing changes.
On Instagram, users noticed they’d been automatically enrolled to a new setting that will “limit political content from people you don’t follow.” So essentially, both platforms have implemented huge updates aimed at reducing the amount of political and news content we consume.
We all know that tech companies have come under fire for their lack of proper content moderation, especially in regards to the spread of misinformation. So instead of truly addressing the issue, many of them have decided to deprioritize news content. Even Google tested removing news from search results.
However, misinformation wasn’t part of Mark Zuckerberg’s answer on why the changes are happening. Instead, he claims it’s due to the unpleasant feeling users get when consuming news content. His words: I think it’s just so polarized that I think it’s hard to come away from reading news about politics these days feeling good, right?[1]
I mean … Sure? News isn’t making any of us jump with joy. And we know Facebook’s number one priority is to keep users happy and engaging with the platform. The more time we spend on Facebook — and/or Instagram, Threads, Whatsapp — the more money Meta earns through our exposure to ads.
But the timing has many people — AKA me — criticizing the change. For one, we’re months away from a general election. And two, we’re still in the midst of some pretty intense world events (i.e. Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, grave humanitarian crises in Sudan and Congo, etc.). And people overwhelmingly get their news from social media. A 2022 survey found that over one third of U.S. adults got their daily news from social media platforms.
So now what? Will many of us just be less informed? And are activists just supposed to accept that their reach and impact is being slashed?
Many of us who are politically engaged know just how important of a tool Instagram has become. We’ve amplified the stories of people on the ground. We’ve shared opportunities to donate, vote and protest. And we’ve exchanged information that we aren’t getting elsewhere. But Instagram has decided that that’s not how they want us to use their platform.
With Tik Tok most likely days away from being banned in the US, I’ve become more aware than ever of just how little control we really have over our use of these platforms.
So once again, corporations have prioritized their profit over our interests. But instead of ending on such a cynical note, I’ll demand action.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that Big Tech has become too powerful and have created monopolies in their industries. But to no one's surprise, they’ve been too dysfunctional to do anything about it. We need to break up these companies so that Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have the power to silence important voices because they don’t pass his vibe check. We also need real solutions to the fake news problem. And we need tech companies to stop favoring their capitalist agendas over user experiences. *drops mic*
