The end of Meta's fact-checking service – the company that controls Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – will not be shut down outside the United States “by now”, the company stated in response to questions from Brazil's Attorney General's Office (AGU, in Portuguese) on Tuesday (14).
“Hereby, Meta clarifies that, by now, it is closing its independent Fact Check Program in the United States only,” the company informed, reacting to an official request for explanations about its new fact-checking policy.
The company's statement AGU released was a response to an extrajudicial request made on January 10 by the Brazilian government about the end of Meta's program for verifying content on social media platforms, announced by the company's owner, Mark Zuckerberg, on January 7.
The move follows the government agenda of US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over the White House on January 20. Trump advocates deregulation of the digital environment and opposes fact-checking policies.
Since 2016, Meta has offered a fact-checking service on Facebook and Instagram, carried out by journalists and experts in around 115 countries, which ascertained whether content shared on the platforms was true or false, and offered context to users.
With the end of Meta’s fact-checking service, the company adopted a “community notes” policy. Under this policy, only previously registered users can challenge information posted on Meta's platforms.
AGU is “seriously worried”
While claiming to protect the human rights and safety of vulnerable groups in the document sent to the AGU, Meta defended changes to the hate speech policy that now allows prejudiced insults against women, immigrants and LGBTQIA+. The company confirmed that these changes are already in force in Brazil.
“These updates seek to simplify the content of [[Meta’s] policy to allow for broader debate and conversation on topics that are part of ongoing discussions in society,” the company stated, claiming that the policy previously in force had limited “legitimate political debate and often prevented the free expression we intend to foster.”
AGU pointed out that the change to the policy on hate speech “seriously concerns” Brazil because “it could mean fertile ground for violating legislation and constitutional precepts that protect the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens,” adding that the changes Meta informed “are not adequate to Brazilian legislation and are not sufficient to protect fundamental rights.”
The institution also pointed out that Meta's new decision contradicted the company's defense during the trial on Marco Civil da Internet at Brazil’s Supreme Court. “In such demonstrations, representatives of the company confirmed that the content governance policies in place were sufficient to protect users’ fundamental rights,” says the communiqué.
The AGU will hold a public hearing next Thursday (16) to discuss with government bodies and civil society organizations actions to deal with the challenge of social media platforms following Meta's recently announced changes.
“The hearing will discuss the effects of Meta’s new policy, the duty of care of digital platforms, the risks of replacing the Fact Check Program abroad and the measures to be adopted to ensure compliance with national legislation and the protection of rights,” says the statement.
