In the midst of major changes to Meta’s content moderation rules, the company revised its community standards to permit users to describe gay and transgender identities as “mental illness,” according to PEOPLE.
In their policy regarding hateful content, it specifies a bunch of “protected characteristics” including “race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and serious disease.”
Before, Meta didn’t allow users to post content that targeted someone based on protected traits, using words like “mentally ill,” “retarded,” “crazy,” or “insane.”
However, the updated policy says,
“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.’ ”
In a video posted by Meta’s CEO on Jan. 7, he talked about the updated policy, saying, “It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram.”
In the video, Mark Zuckerberg explained that the decision aimed to “simplify our content policies” and remove “restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that don’t align with mainstream discussions.”
“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far… I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platform,”
he said.
This updated guidelines left meta staffers enraged, per a 404 Media report, according to PEOPLE.
A worker said,
“It’s total chaos internally at Meta right now… I’d call the mood shock and disbelief… It’s embarrassment and shame that feels self-inflicted, different than mistakes the company has made in the past.”
Another staffer informed 404 Media,
“Obviously the employees who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community are especially unhappy and feel the most unsupported in this.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
Meta's New Policy Allows Users to Call LGBTQ+ People Mentally Ill https://t.co/kby5rfBs1Y
— barry levine (@barryscoopking) January 11, 2025