Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has laid off several members of its global team that focused on misinformation and disinformation in last year’s midterm elections.
The layoffs come as Meta is preparing for the 2024 presidential election, when elections will also take place in the United States, Taiwan, Ukraine, India, and elsewhere.
The terminated staffers worked on Meta’s efforts to counter disinformation campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta has said that it will continue to invest in protecting users from disinformation, but the layoffs have raised concerns about the company’s ability to do so effectively
A Meta spokesperson said that the company is “prioritizing which campaigns and countries to focus on” in its efforts to counter disinformation.
The spokesperson also said that Meta is “more proactively detecting accounts that spread false election-related information.”
However, some experts have expressed doubts about Meta’s ability to effectively counter disinformation without a strong team of human reviewers.
“Finding sophisticated disinformation networks remains a very manual process,” said one expert.
The layoffs at Meta come at a time when the company is facing increasing scrutiny over its handling of misinformation.
In 2016, Facebook was accused of allowing Russian government-linked troll farms to spread disinformation on its platform during the U.S. presidential election.
Since then, Meta has taken steps to address the problem of misinformation, but the company has continued to face criticism.
The layoffs at Meta are a setback for the company’s efforts to combat disinformation.
It remains to be seen whether Meta will be able to effectively counter disinformation without a strong team of human reviewers.
Here are some additional details about the layoffs:
The layoffs affected a “content review” group, comprised of specialists who manually review election-related posts that may violate Meta’s terms of service.
The layoffs also affected teams that probe disinformation campaigns.
Meta has not said how many people were laid off or how the layoffs will affect its ability to counter disinformation.
Here are some of the concerns that have been raised about the layoffs:
The layoffs could make it more difficult for Meta to detect and remove disinformation from its platforms.
The layoffs could send a signal that Meta is not taking the problem of disinformation seriously.
The layoffs could embolden those who spread disinformation, knowing that Meta is less likely to be able to stop them.
Meta Cuts Disinformation Staff Before ’24 Election
