Meta's new policies for contractors and staff moderating Facebook and Instagram allow dehumanizing speech, like “a trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it”
“A trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it,” reads a new guideline telling moderators what is now allowed on Facebook and Instagram
PlatformerCasey Newton
Context & Ripple Effects
Meta had just said it would narrow enforcement around immigration and gender toward illegal and high-severity violations, recasting those subjects as topics of mainstream discourse. The contractor guidance turns that broader policy direction into an operational instruction for the people reviewing Facebook and Instagram content.
The shift also arrives amid reports of internal employee anger over the moderation changes and separate documentation of contradictory examples given to moderators. That makes the practical consistency of enforcement as significant as the written rule.
First-order effects
Contractors and staff moderating Facebook and Instagram can now leave up the specified form of dehumanizing language about trans people, reducing the protection available to users targeted by it.
Meta’s moderation workforce must apply a narrower standard while navigating conflicting hate-speech examples, increasing the likelihood that similar reports receive different decisions.
Second-order effects
The policy change gives critics, employees, and affected users a concrete enforcement example against which to judge Meta’s broader relaxation of gender-related speech rules.
Appeals and external review become a more consequential check on the new standard; Meta’s Oversight Board later treated posts disparaging trans women as a first major test of the January changes.
Third-order effects
If Meta continues to define more identity-based attacks as permissible discussion, platform safety policy may shift from categorical protections toward a higher threshold centered on severity or illegality.
That approach would place greater weight on policy interpretation by moderators and oversight bodies, while making consistency and accountability harder to assess from rules alone.
The trend: This is a data point in large platforms moving from broader identity-based speech protections toward narrower enforcement focused on the most severe violations.
man say what you will about x but at least they're like unapologetically full woke mind virus. this is some bleak, bankrupt stuff right here. www.platformer.news/meta-new- tra... [image]
NEW: Platformer has obtained the dehumanizing new guidelines moderating what people can now say about trans people on Facebook and Instagram. Employees tell me these changes are likely to inspire more violence against LGBT people: www.platformer.news/meta-new- tra... [image]
“You fight discriminations by allowing more discriminations” is some incredible bullshit, especially from a gay man — It's the same as “forbidding vaccines will lead to more support for vaccines, as people will see their friends die from preventable diseases” — www.platformer…
I'm all for free speech. I'm also for decency and respect. Facebook has chosen to abandon the latter two values in favor of a warped view of free speech that ignores hate speech, intimidation, and dehumanization. Allowing human beings to be labeled “it” while collecting ad rev…
I think this saga exposes the absurdity of asking our social media overlords to police our speech — there is no way to ban ‘dehumanizing speech’ without drawing free speech-limiting arbitrarily lines. — But, also, if you want real free speech: You shouldn't be a platform that w…
Dig into this. These policy changes reflect Kaplan's free rein as Global head of policy. — More than a dog whistle, Kaplan rewrote Meta policy to reflect the priorities of MAGA. It's gross. — I hope we get to the bottom of how influential Kaplan has been on shutting down di…
What's permissible on Meta now. Importantly, and though not mentioned in article, likely that even on appeal, this content will never be actioned since it's now official policy to allow this speech. Inside Meta's dehumanizing new speech policies for trans people www.platformer.…
“Alex Schultz, the company's chief marketing officer and highest-ranking gay executive, suggested in an internal post that seeing their queer friends and family members abused on Facebook and Instagram could lead to increased support for LGBTQ rights.” [embedded post]