<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> has unveiled a verification system on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/instagram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> similar to the one created by Twitter.
Meta Verified was rolled out on the company&#8217;s social media platforms Friday. Instead of giving out blue checkmarks to accounts because the user is a prominent public figure, the checkmark is open to any user as a means to verify that the account is authentic. The system is similar to Twitter Blue, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musks-new-twitter-verification-process-devolves-into-a-confusing-mess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subscription service</a> unveiled by Elon Musk after he took over Twitter.
&#8220;The meaning of the verified badge has been updated to represent authenticity,&#8221; Instagram said on its <a href="https://help.instagram.com/854227311295302" target="_blank" rel="noopener">help website</a>. &#8220;An Instagram account with a verified badge next to its name now means that Instagram has confirmed that it is the authentic presence for that person or brand. Previously, the verified badge also required the person or brand to be notable and unique.&#8221; The company said that users who were verified under the old rules will still have their blue checkmarks.
&#8220;The verified badge is a tool to help people find the real accounts of people and brands,&#8221; Instagram added. &#8220;If an account has the verified badge, we&#8217;ve confirmed that it represents who it says it does. A verified badge is not a symbol to show importance, authority or subject matter expertise. We don’t use the verified badge verified to endorse or recognize public figures or brands.&#8221;
Like Twitter Blue, public figures who subscribe to Instagram Verified cannot change their username, or transfer their blue checks to a different account.
Facebook has not updated its help site in accordance with new policies yet, but <a href="https://about.meta.com/technologies/meta-verified?campaign_id=19725375025&amp;extra_1=s%7Cc%7C649036315322%7Ce%7Chow%20can%20i%20get%20my%20instagram%20verified%7C&amp;placement=&amp;creative=649036315322&amp;keyword=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> provided some additional details on its website. In addition to the blue check, users get proactive account protection from impersonation, exclusive features on Facebook and Instagram stories, and a direct connection to support teams on both platforms.
Meta Verified is much more expensive than Twitter Blue, however. Twitter Blue is $8 a month for web users, and $11 for iOS and Android. Meta Verified is $11.99 a month on the web and $14.99 on mobile; users must also pay to be verified on each platform separately.
Meta is not simply rolling out services comparable to Elon Musk&#8217;s Twitter. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is considering a decentralized, text-based social media platform as an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meta-working-on-alternative-to-elon-musks-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alternative to Twitter</a> after some users, many of whom are Left-leaning, are seeking alternatives to the platform after Musk&#8217;s takeover.
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The initiative, codenamed P92, could be accessed by Facebook and Instagram users with their existing credentials. Adam Mosseri, who oversees Instagram, is leading the project.
The revelation comes weeks after Instagram introduced a notes feature through which users can create short posts using text and characters.
The new social media site would be centered upon verification badges, followers and likes, posts with previews, and other features similar to those currently offered by Twitter, according to a report from MoneyControl, which first broke the news of the initiative.
Meta revealed the plans for the new platform as disillusioned Twitter users seek alternatives. A handful have created accounts on Mastodon, which features a number of independently run nodes with their own codes of conduct, privacy policies, and content moderation standards.
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

RUSSIA-US-INTERNET-META

Meta Rolls Out New Verified System Similar To Twitter Blue

Big Tech

Business

Facebook

Instagram

Social Media

Twitter

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> posted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> on Friday for the first time since getting booted from the platform in January 2021.
“I’M BACK!” he posted along with a short clip of his remarks after winning the 2016 presidential election. “Sorry to keep you waiting, complicated business. Complicated,” he says in the clip.
Meta <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/01/trump-facebook-instagram-account-suspension/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lifted</a> its suspension of Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in January, though the president posted to neither until Friday. The former president’s return to Facebook coincides with his ban from YouTube, a platform run by Google, being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youtube-restores-donald-trumps-account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lifted</a> as well.
Twitter was the first major social media platform to lift its ban on Trump after the former president was suspended from multiple platforms following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter CEO Elon Musk reactivated Trump’s Twitter account in November after buying the social media platform last year.
Trump has yet to return to Twitter, which was a staple of his communications prior to being banned in early 2021. Pundits have speculated if and when Trump will make a return to the platform as he campaigns for a 2024 presidential run. Recently, Trump has appeared to be most active on his own social media account, launched in the wake of his suspension from other platforms, Truth Social.
Meta suspended Trump’s accounts after January 6 over “a clear risk of real world harm” being done if the former president had remained on the platforms. Meta let Trump back onto its platforms in January because it judged that “the risk has sufficiently receded,” but the company put “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses,” Meta said in a January <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/01/trump-facebook-instagram-account-suspension/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
“Like any other Facebook or Instagram user, Mr. Trump is subject to our Community Standards,” Meta said. “In light of his violations, he now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offenses — penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol. In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation.”

Donald Trump

‘I’M BACK’: Trump Announces Return To Facebook After Two-Year Suspension

Politics

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/mark-zuckerberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg</a> announced that the social media <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">company</a> would dismiss 10,000 employees and cease efforts to fill 5,000 open roles amid <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic</a> turmoil and lackluster performance.
Meta reported $116.6 billion in revenues in its final <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/metas-profits-down-more-than-40-last-year-but-stock-rallies-as-zuckerberg-streamlines-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earnings report</a> of 2022, marking a 1% decline from the $117.9 billion earned in 2021, even as a somewhat higher effective tax rate and a 23% increase in costs from operations contributed to a 41% decline in net income. Zuckerberg said in a Tuesday <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/03/mark-zuckerberg-meta-year-of-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> that ongoing efforts to “improve organizational efficiency” and “garbage collect unnecessary processes” would necessitate the headcount reduction.
“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs, and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg wrote.
The executive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heads-roll-at-meta-as-zuckerberg-announces-massive-layoffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> 13% of his company’s workforce last year after he received a letter from Altimeter Capital Management CEO Brad Gerstner advocating for moves that would significantly reduce headcount, which had more than tripled from 25,000 employees to 85,000 employees over the past four years. Shares for Meta increased more than 20% after the layoff announcement, suggesting that investors were heartened by the emphasis on efficiency.
Gerstner noted that many companies in Silicon Valley could “achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people.” Zuckerberg acknowledged that ending less important initiatives freed talented employees to direct their attention toward the most important tasks.
Zuckerberg also told employees on Tuesday that they should brace for a cultural shift toward less managerial bureaucracy, which “adds latency and risk aversion” in decision making, and a renewed emphasis from the company on hiring more engineers relative to other positions. He also revealed that an analysis of remote work suggested that engineers who either joined a Meta office before transferring to remote work or who remained in a physical office “performed better on average” than those who joined the company for a virtual position.
“This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week,” Zuckerberg continued. “This requires further study, but our hypothesis is that it is still easier to build trust in person and that those relationships help us work more effectively.”
Similar findings have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reality-has-set-in-majority-of-firms-see-resistance-from-employees-who-do-not-want-remote-work-to-end" target="_blank" rel="noopener">occurred</a> at other prominent technology companies, many of which instituted across-the-board virtual work arrangements in response to lockdown mandates. Some workers are incensed as their employers reinstitute hybrid or traditional work: employees at Amazon, which requires staff members to report to a physical office at least three times per week, have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thousands-of-amazon-employees-revolt-as-ceo-makes-them-show-up-in-office-at-least-three-days-per-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> an internal messaging channel to challenge the end of fully remote work, while Starbucks employees <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/making-our-lives-more-difficult-starbucks-office-staff-revolt-as-company-makes-them-show-up-three-days-per-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">petitioned</a> management in the wake of a similar announcement.
Employees generally prefer virtual work arrangements because of reduced commuting time and more flexibility, but costs for employers are often significant: 85% of managers believe the shift to hybrid work during the lockdown-induced recession has eroded confidence that employees remain productive, according to a <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work-is-just-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from Microsoft.

Meta Lays Off Thousands More Employees As Zuckerberg Urges Return To Physical Offices

Meta Lays Off 10,000 More Employees

Mark Zuckerberg

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/facebook">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/instagram">Instagram</a> threatened to permanently ban <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/project-veritas">Project Veritas</a> from the platforms after a journalist from the nonprofit confronted a <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/youtube">YouTube</a> executive on why one of their <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/pfizer">Pfizer</a> sting videos had been removed.
Jordon Trishton Walker, an official who leads research and development for mRNA projects, recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-pfizer-official-physically-assaults-james-okeefe-destroys-ipad-showing-undercover-recordings">said</a> to an undercover Project Veritas journalist that the company uses “directed evolution” to mutate coronaviruses and create more potent variants and vaccines. More <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-exec-appears-to-admit-there-are-concerning-impacts-on-female-reproductive-health-from-vaccine-in-round-two-of-project-veritas-sting">footage</a> captured by the journalist and released on Thursday evening shows the embattled official revealing that Pfizer is not entirely sure why the vaccines are impacting women’s menstrual cycles, postulating that the effects could be evidence of hormonal disruptions.
“I hope we don’t discover something really bad down the line. I hope we don’t find out that somehow this mRNA lingers in the body,” he continued, “because it has to be affecting something hormonal to impact menstrual cycles.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/pfizer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pfizer</a> Director Concerned Over Women&#8217;s Reproductive Heath After COVID-19 Vaccinations
&#8220;There is something irregular about their menstrual cycles&#8230;concerning&#8230;The vaccine shouldn&#8217;t be interfering with that&#8230;It has to be affecting something hormonal&#8230;&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pfertility?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pfertility</a> <a href="https://t.co/XAuMPJNShD">pic.twitter.com/XAuMPJNShD</a>
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1621274788734943233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
Project Veritas published more footage on Friday afternoon showing one of their reporters appearing to confront YouTube Vice President of Global Trust and Safety Matt Halprin on why they banned the first video. The executive walked away from the reporter without responding, apart from telling the reporter to not touch him and threatening to call the police.
Facebook and Instagram, both of which are owned by Meta, removed the footage of Halprin and <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1621604766190034949">warned</a> that the content violates “Community Standards.”
“We have these standards because we want everyone to feel safe, respected and welcome,” the warning said. “If your content goes against our Community Standards again, your account may be restricted or disabled. You can disagree with the decision if you think we got it wrong.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: Project Veritas Senior Reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Hartsock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Chris_Hartsock</a> Confronts <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> Vice President of Global Trust &amp; Safety Over Tech Giant’s Actions to Remove Our <a href="https://twitter.com/pfizer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pfizer</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DirectedEvolution?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DirectedEvolution</a> Investigation From The Platform <a href="https://t.co/ktvXRJawN2">pic.twitter.com/ktvXRJawN2</a>
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1621564110906220544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
Project Veritas added on Friday afternoon that they had been &#8220;wrongfully locked out&#8221; of Twitter for nearly two hours. The social media company <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1621637789753266177?s=20&amp;t=PHaMAgKOs5Qfn8bIvKBLTw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that the Halprin video constituted &#8220;abuse and harassment.&#8221;
Project Veritas has frequently been subjected to censorship from technology companies. Officials at Twitter had formerly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-reinstates-undercover-journalism-enterprise-project-veritas">restricted</a> the organization for allegedly posting a video showing Facebook Vice President Guy Rosen admitting the social media platform built a system designed to freeze commenting where hate speech or violence is detected without confirming if the alleged speech was hateful or violent. The account on Twitter was restored after Elon Musk purchased the company last year.
With respect to the abnormal menstrual cycles, Walker said in the video released on Thursday that the vaccine should not be interfering with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, but expressed concern “there is something happening, but we don’t always figure it out.”
“There is something irregular about their menstrual cycles. So, people will have to investigate that down the line, because that is a little concerning,” he said. “The vaccine shouldn’t be interfering with that.”
Researchers have previously found that COVID vaccines impacted menstruation; one international <a href="https://news.ohsu.edu/2022/09/27/global-study-finds-covid-19-vaccination-can-affect-menstrual-cycle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from the Oregon Health and Science University concluded that “some people may experience a slight, temporary change in the length of their monthly menstrual cycle” after receiving the vaccine. Another <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm7201#:~:text=In%20this%20sample%2C%2042%25%20of,no%20change%20after%20being%20vaccinated." target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that 42% of women with regular menstrual cycles reported heavier bleeding than usual after inoculation.
Although Pfizer appears to have not yet responded to the second round of the Project Veritas sting, the company <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-denies-conducting-covid-gain-of-function-research-in-delayed-response-to-veritas-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> conducting gain-of-function research after the initial footage was released. “Working with collaborators, we have conducted research where the original SARS-CoV-2 virus has been used to express the spike protein from new variants of concern,” a statement read. “This work is undertaken once a new variant of concern has been identified by public health authorities. This research provides a way for us to rapidly assess the ability of an existing vaccine to induce antibodies that neutralize a newly identified variant of concern.”
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe <a href="https://twitter.com/Project_Veritas/status/1618743338852835329">confronted</a> Walker in a subsequent video, leading the executive to call himself a “liar” who apparently fabricated the stories to impress the undercover journalist with whom he thought he was on a date. Pfizer did not respond to questions from The Daily Wire about Walker’s employment status.
Walker insisted he is “not even a scientist by background,” adding that he “came from a consulting firm that does business.” Asked whether he works for Pfizer, Walker said, “No, I was a contractor!” When pressed for a second time, Walker replied, “No! What are you talking about here?”
Despite his denials, Walker’s apparent LinkedIn profile, which appears to have been deleted, and images of internal Pfizer documents <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1618435991211233282">shared</a> by O’Keefe suggest he did indeed work for the pharmaceutical firm. Walker is listed as a Pfizer “director of research and development, strategic operations, and mRNA scientific planning.”

James OKeefe, founder of Project Veritas, waits to be

Facebook And Instagram Threaten To Permanently Ban Project Veritas

Facebook And Instagram Could Permanently Ban Project Veritas

Pfizer

Project Veritas

Social Media Censorship

YouTube

The final earnings report published by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> for 2022 indicated that the social media company’s net income declined 41% over the course of the year, prompting executives to announce efficiency improvements in comments that appear to have restored investor confidence.
Meta reported $116.6 billion in revenues, marking a 1% decline from the $117.9 billion earned in 2021. A somewhat higher effective tax rate and a 23% increase in costs from operations contributed to the rapid decline in net income, according to the <a href="https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2023/Meta-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2022-Results/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earnings report</a>.
The company reported operating losses of $13.7 billion from Reality Labs, the business unit focused on developing hardware and software products for the metaverse, representing more severe losses than the $10.2 billion reported in 2021. The Family of Apps business unit, which includes social media platforms Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reported $42.7 billion in income, constituting a decline from $56.9 billion in the previous year.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has invoked criticism for the decline in profitability. Altimeter Capital Management CEO Brad Gerstner recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investor-tells-zuckerberg-to-cut-headcount-cool-down-metaverse-push-since-no-one-knows-what-it-even-means" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> the executive a letter encouraging him to reduce spending on metaverse initiatives and significantly reduce headcount, which has more than tripled from 25,000 employees to 85,000 employees over the past four years.
“It is a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley that companies ranging from Google to Meta to Twitter to Uber could achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people,” he said. “These incredible companies would run even better and more efficiently without the layers and lethargy that comes with this extreme rate of employee expansion.”
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth likewise admitted in a <a href="https://boz.com/articles/focus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a> that the company’s culture has drastically changed in recent years. He recounted that Zuckerberg would reject suggestions that the firm support various nonprofits or causes out of a concern that the initiatives would distract from their overall mission; Meta now devotes considerable <a href="https://sustainability.fb.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resources</a> toward sustainability and community support efforts.
“Resources and time were so tight that you could feel the weight of all the things you weren’t working on,” Bosworth wrote. “You had real conviction that the thing you were doing was the most important thing.”
Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heads-roll-at-meta-as-zuckerberg-announces-massive-layoffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> 13% of his company’s workforce in the weeks after he received the letter from Gerstner. The entrepreneur remarked during an <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4574440-meta-platforms-inc-meta-q4-2022-earnings-call-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earnings call</a> that he has designated 2023 as the “Year of Efficiency” and informed investors that the company would take additional efforts to streamline operations.
“We are going to be more proactive about cutting projects that aren’t performing or may no longer be as crucial. But my main focus is on increasing the efficiency of how we execute our top priorities,” he commented. “So I think that there is going to be some more that we can do to improve our productivity, speed, and cost structure. And by working on this over a sustained period, I think we will both build a stronger technology company and become more profitable.”
Shares for Meta increased more than 20% after the reassurances from Zuckerberg, suggesting that investors were heartened by the emphasis on efficient operations. The company had underperformed the overall stock market last year alongside the rest of the technology sector.

Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta’s Profits Down More Than 40% Last Year, But Stock Rallies As Zuckerberg Streamlines Company

Meta Profits Down More Than 40% Last Year, But Stock Rallies As Zuckerberg Streamlines Company

Silicon Valley

Stock Market

Top Democrats slammed Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for its decision to let former President Donald Trump back on the platform in the name of free speech.
Meta announced last Wednesday it would end Trump’s suspension from Facebook and Instagram, saying the penalty imposed after January 6 riot was “an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances,” and pledged to enforce “certain guardrails” on Trump in the future.
&#8220;Social media is rooted in the belief that open debate and the free flow of ideas are important values, especially at a time when they are under threat in many places around the world. As a general rule, we don’t want to get in the way of open, public and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms — especially in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States,&#8221; the company stated in the announcement.
The company did not say when Trump would be allowed to post on its platforms but said it was confident the “risk” he posed to public safety had passed. Twitter, which also suspended Trump in the wake of the Capitol riot, also recently reinstated Trump, although the former president has so far chosen to communicate through his own platform, Truth Social.
“We are bringing Mr. Trump back in the coming weeks with certain guardrails, applicable to any public figures suspended for certain violations during times of civil unrest,” a statement from Meta read. “The penalties and potential restrictions we’ve put in place are a deterrent.”
The company added that it was important for the public to see content from people like Trump, even if it was “distasteful or factually wrong.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) <a href="https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/schiff-whitehouse-question-meta-decision-to-reinstate-trump-on-facebook">sent</a> a letter to Meta&#8217;s President of Global Affairs, Nicholas Clegg, criticizing the company&#8217;s decision to let Trump back on the platform.
“Based on Meta’s previous statements on standards for allowing Trump back on the platform, his account should not have been reinstated. Trump has continued to post harmful election content on Truth Social that would likely violate Facebook’s policies, and we have every reason to believe he will bring similar conspiratorial rhetoric back to Facebook, too,” the two wrote. “How Facebook could reinstate his account, given all the additional content on Truth Social that would likely have resulted in a brand-new suspension if it were on your platform, is inexplicable.”
“[W]e believe that part of Meta’s commitment to election integrity should be ensuring that those who maintain the unfounded, dangerous narrative of the 2020 election are not allowed or encouraged to spread the lie in any form,&#8221; they added. &#8220;It is not clear in this decision where Meta will draw the line &#8216;between content that is harmful and should be removed, and content that, however distasteful or inaccurate, is part of the rough and tumble of life in a free society” and we would greatly appreciate further clarity on this matter.'&#8221;

Adam Schiff

Top Democrats Slam Meta For Allowing Trump Back On Facebook, Instagram

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> announced Wednesday it will end former President Trump&#8217;s suspension from Facebook and Instagram, saying the penalty imposed after January 6 was &#8220;an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances,&#8221; and sternly pledging to enforce &#8220;certain guardrails&#8221; on Trump in the future.
The company did not say when Trump would be allowed to post on its platforms but said it was confident the &#8220;risk&#8221; he posed to public safety had passed. Twitter, which also suspended Trump in the wake of the Capitol riot also recently reinstated Trump, although the former president has so far chosen to communicate through his own platform, Truth Social.
&#8220;We are bringing Mr. Trump back in the coming weeks with certain guardrails, applicable to any public figures <a href="https://transparency.fb.com/enforcement/taking-action/restricting-accounts-by-public-figures" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://transparency.fb.com/enforcement/taking-action/restricting-accounts-by-public-figures&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1674771703056000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TP3TPcoFxOWAhmRMTfCQ9">suspended for certain violations</a> during times of civil unrest,&#8221; a statement from Meta read.
The company defended its controversial 2021 decision, insisting it never wanted to interfere in debate surrounding elections and that its decision had been approved by an oversight board. In lifting the suspension, Meta said that based on Trump&#8217;s past behavior on the platform, he now faces &#8220;heightened penalties for repeat offenses – penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.&#8221;
&#8220;The penalties and potential restrictions we’ve put in place are a deterrent,&#8221; the statement read, warning that Trump could face another suspension ranging from one month to two years if he violates the company&#8217;s rules.
The company claimed that Trump had praised violent rioters at the Capitol, meriting his indefinite suspension, and that after January 6, &#8220;the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.&#8221; Trump has denied praising or encouraging rioters, and did in fact take to Twitter as the riot unfolded to tell his supporters to disperse.
Both Facebook and Twitter have been criticized for suspending Trump even as they allowed a host of world leaders with histories of human rights violations to maintain a presence.
Trump responded to the suspension being lifted on Truth Social.
&#8220;Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting president or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution,&#8221; Trump wrote.
Meta said its updated protocol specifically addresses content that does not technically violate the platform&#8217;s policies, but that &#8220;contributes to the sort of risk that materialized on January 6th, such as content that delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to QAnon.&#8221;
&#8220;We may limit the distribution of such posts, and for repeated instances, may temporarily restrict access to our advertising tools,&#8221; the company said. &#8220;This step would mean that content would remain visible on Mr. Trump’s account but would not be distributed in people’s Feeds, even if they follow Mr. Trump. We may also remove the reshare button from such posts, and may stop them being recommended or run as ads. In the event that Mr. Trump posts content that violates the letter of the Community Standards but, under our newsworthy content policy, we assess there is a public interest in knowing that Mr. Trump made the statement that outweighs any potential harm, we may similarly opt to restrict the distribution of such posts but leave them visible on Mr. Trump’s account.&#8221;
The company added that it was important for the public to see content from people like Trump, even if it was &#8220;distasteful or factually wrong.&#8221;

Facebook Unveils Meta

META Announces It Will Lift Trump’s Facebook, Instagram Suspensions

META To End Trump's Suspension Across Platforms In Near Future

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cdc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC</a> played a direct role in moderating and censoring speech on Facebook surrounding the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a> pandemic, emails obtained in a lawsuit against the Biden administration suggest.
Facebook’s cozy relationship with the CDC was revealed after the state of Missouri sued the federal government for alleged censorship of citizens in violation of the First Amendment. Reason Editor Robby Soave outlined the nature of the communication in a series of tweets reminiscent of the Twitter files, with screenshots of the relevant emails between the CDC and Meta employees.
“The CDC had significant input on pandemic-era policies at Meta,&#8221; Soave wrote. &#8220;The CDC was consulted frequently, at times daily, receiving constant updates about which topics were trending, and giving recommendations on what content to flag as false or misleading.”
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2. The CDC had significant input on pandemic-era policies at Meta. The CDC was consulted frequently, at times daily, receiving constant updates about which topics were trending, and giving recommendations on what content to flag as false or misleading. <a href="https://t.co/rEXxY1VDk3">https://t.co/rEXxY1VDk3</a>
&mdash; Robby Soave (@robbysoave) <a href="https://twitter.com/robbysoave/status/1616072448436314115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The revelations mirror disclosures about Twitter’s close cooperation with government officials in suppressing claims that went against the official line were made voluntarily after Elon Musk bought that platform.
By May of 2021, the CDC was monitoring statements by Facebook users about the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines, and highlighting certain ideas it wanted banned and suppressed. Facebook was eager to acquiesce — one moderator went so far as to thank the CDC for “help in debunking” these claims.
Notably, one widely circulated claim that drew the attention of the CDC was the “lab leak” theory — the notion that COVID was biologically engineered — an idea the CDC dismissed as technically possible, but highly improbable. Facebook would crack down on users and accounts promoting the lab leak theory shortly after this exchange.
By July of 2021, the CDC was flagging posts for concerns beyond factual accuracy — claims that “may cause harm” or induce “vaccine refusal” were also flagged for censorship.
“Meta gave the CDC de facto power to police COVID misinfo on the platforms; the CDC took the position that essentially any erroneous claim could contribute to vaccine hesitancy and cause social harm. This was a recipe for vast silencing, at the feds’ implicit behest.” After the FDA granted emergency authorization for the use of COVID vaccines in children, Facebook agreed to censor all posts suggesting that the vaccine was not safe for kids.
The CDC also kept a watchful eye on criticism and mockery of former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci.
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11. Meta also kept the CDC apprised of criticism of Anthony Fauci. One email warned the CDC that Facebook users were mocking Fauci for changing his mind about masking and double-masking. The CDC replied that this information was &quot;very helpful.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/CUM5wwORtM">pic.twitter.com/CUM5wwORtM</a>
&mdash; Robby Soave (@robbysoave) <a href="https://twitter.com/robbysoave/status/1616074074094211073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Personal details from the email exchanges reveal a cordial relationship between Meta and the CDC, with Meta employees referring to their counterparts at the CDC as “colleagues” and working to provide them many channels to flag and report content. However, co-operation may not have been totally voluntary — members of the White House staff routinely and publicly berated Facebook and other social media platforms for not taking down offending posts fast enough, and as recently as July of 2021, President Biden himself <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/16/white-house-says-facebook-needs-to-do-more-to-fight-vaccine-misinformation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Facebook was “killing people.”
&#8220;Facebook is a private entity, and thus is within its rights to moderate content in any fashion it sees fit,” Soave concluded. “But the federal government&#8217;s efforts to pressure social media companies cannot be waved away. Such an arrangement—whereby private entities, at the behest of the government, become ideological enforcers—is unacceptable. And it may be illegal.&#8221;

The Facebook Files: How The CDC Colluded With Meta To Suppress ‘Misinformation’

The Facebook Files: How The CDC Colluded With Meta To Suppress 'Misinformation'

COVID

A U.S.-based couple identifying as &#8220;transgender and non-binary&#8221; won an appeal against Facebook and Instagram Tuesday, which restores two posts that exposed their bare breasts, after an oversight board overturned the <a href="https://www.oversightboard.com/decision/BUN-IH313ZHJ/">decision</a> made by the social media platform&#8217;s owner, Meta, to remove the content.
Reversing the decision will allow only &#8220;trans and non-binary&#8221; users to have free rein to post pictures of themselves topless without concerns from the tech giant censoring their content thanks to the board&#8217;s reversal.
The board overseeing Meta, which owns both social media platforms, commissioned independent researchers that ordered the social media platforms to lift a ban on topless images for every user except biological females.
&#8220;The same image of female-presenting nipples would be prohibited if posted by a cisgender woman but permitted if posted by an individual self-identifying as non-binary,&#8221; the board&#8217;s decision reads.
The board recommended Meta change its Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard so that it is governed by clear criteria that respect international human rights standards.
The current policy prohibits images containing female nipples other than in specified circumstances, such as &#8220;protest, birth giving, after birth, and breastfeeding which it did not examine here, but also must be assessed.&#8221;
Board members said the policy text is based on a &#8220;binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies.&#8221;
&#8220;Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender,&#8221; it said.
The board said Meta would rely on &#8220;human reviewers&#8221; to &#8220;quickly assess[ing] both a user&#8217;s sex, as this policy applies to &#8216;female nipples,&#8217; and their gender identity.&#8221;
A spokesperson for Meta told The New York Post that the platform welcomes the board&#8217;s decision in this case.
&#8220;We had reinstated this content prior to the decision, recognizing that it should not have been taken down,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;We know more can be done to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that means working with experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on a range of issues and product improvements.&#8221;

In this photo illustration, a Meta logo is seen displayed on

Facebook, Instagram To Allow Topless Photos For ‘Trans, Non-Binary’ Users Only

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Transgender

Seattle Public School District officials filed a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.317950/gov.uscourts.wawd.317950.1.0.pdf">lawsuit</a> Friday against social media platform owners, including Facebook, TikTok, and others, for allegedly intentionally cultivating and creating a mental health crisis among the youth.
Plaintiffs filed the 91-page-lawsuit in a U.S. District Court arguing that the platforms, which also include Google, Snapchat, and YouTube, have caused a public nuisance effecting Seattle Public Schools.
&#8220;Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants&#8217; social media platforms,&#8221; the lawsuit reads. &#8220;Worse, the content Defendants curate and direct to youth is too often harmful and exploitive.&#8221;
Such content the lawsuit alleges social media companies promote includes a &#8216;corpse bride&#8217; diet, eating 300 calories a day, or encouraging self-harm. Other mental health harms the lawsuit accuses big tech of cultivating among the youth include anxiety, cyberbullying, and suicide.
The lawsuit argues that students experiencing mental health issues perform worse in school and are less likely to attend class while engaging in substance use, which &#8220;directly affects Seattle Public School&#8217;s ability to fulfill its educational mission.&#8221;
Seattle Public School District claims that approximately 30% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless for more than two weeks between 2009 to 2019, which caused them to stop engaging in some typical activities.
District officials further argued in the lawsuit that the state of children&#8217;s mental health led the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children&#8217;s Hospital Association to declare a national emergency and the U.S. Surgeon General to issue an advisory &#8220;to highlight the urgent need to address the nation&#8217;s youth mental health crisis.&#8221;
President Joe Biden drew attention to social media platforms in his 2022 State of the Union Address, alleging the harm social media has wrought on American youth should implore all to &#8220;hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they&#8217;re conducting on our children for profit.&#8221;
District Superintendent Brent Jones told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11614873/Seattle-public-school-district-files-suit-against-tech-giants-fueling-teen-mental-health-crisis.html">The Daily Mail</a> in a statement that &#8220;it has become increasingly clear that many children are burdened by mental health challenges.&#8221;
&#8220;Our students — and young people everywhere — face unprecedented, learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media,&#8221; Jones said.
Other public school officials said according to <a href="https://insiderpaper.com/big-tech-sued-by-seattle-schools-over-mental-health-crisis/">Insider Paper</a> they are &#8220;holding social media companies accountable for the harm they have wreaked on the social, emotional, and mental health&#8221; of students.
&#8220;The increase in suicides, attempted suicides, and mental-health related emergency room visits is no coincidence,&#8221; a statement said.
José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, told The Daily Mail the tech giant gives parents tools to limit screen time for their children and prevent certain types of content on their devices.
&#8220;We have invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children across our platforms and have introduced strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well being,&#8221; Castañeda said.
District officials said they anticipate that defendants will raise section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity from liability in certain cases, as a shield for their conduct. However, the plaintiffs argue the law does not protect the &#8220;Defendants’ own acts in designing, marketing, and operating social media platforms that are harmful to youth.&#8221;
&#8220;Plaintiff is not alleging Defendants are liable for what third-parties have said on Defendants&#8217; platforms but, rather, for Defendants&#8217; own conduct,&#8221; the lawsuit reads. &#8220;Defendants affirmatively recommend and promote harmful content to youth, such as pro-anorexia and eating disorder content.&#8221;

Seattle Public School District Sues Big Tech Over Mental Health ‘Crisis’ Among Youth

Google

Seattle

Section 230 TikTok

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/big-tech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social media</a> platforms revealed on Monday that they would remove <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">content</a> supporting riots in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/brazil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brazil</a> that saw demonstrators storm multiple federal buildings.
Thousands of supporters who backed former President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/jair-bolsonaro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jair Bolsonaro</a> in recent elections <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-thousands-of-bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazils-congress-supreme-court-presidential-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entered</a> facilities hosting the South American nation’s legislative and executive branches. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who assumed office last week, has vowed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brazilian-government-plans-to-punish-pro-bolsonaro-protesters-who-stormed-federal-buildings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">punish</a> individuals who destroyed federal property. Technology companies are now taking down material that supports the riots, according to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebook-owner-meta-removing-content-backing-brazil-assault-2023-01-09/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Reuters.
&#8220;In advance of the election, we designated Brazil as a temporary high-risk location and have been removing content calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress, the Presidential palace and other federal buildings,&#8221; a spokesman for Meta, which runs Facebook, told the outlet. &#8220;We are also designating this as a violating event, which means we will remove content that supports or praises these actions. We are actively following the situation and will continue removing content that violates our policies.&#8221;
YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, likewise told the outlet that the company is “closely tracking” the unrest and “removing content” that violates community guidelines. &#8220;Our systems are prominently surfacing authoritative content on our homepage, at the top of search results, and in recommendations,” a spokesperson said. “We will remain vigilant as the situation continues to unfold.&#8221;
Twitter did not respond to Reuters&#8217; request for comment.
Lula, a self-described socialist, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-con-defeats-incumbent-in-brazilian-presidential-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated</a> Bolsonaro, a populist conservative sometimes called the “Trump of the Tropics,” by a narrow margin during elections held in October. A justice on the Brazilian Supreme Court voided corruption convictions against Lula two years ago, restoring his eligibility for office. Documents leaked after Lula’s trial suggested that the judge in the case, Sergio Moro, improperly collaborated with the prosecution.
Bolsonaro, currently residing in Florida while reportedly facing investigations in his home country, has condemned illegal protests. “Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1612242019564548097?s=20&amp;t=L8P6-CWW_kUnM0YptjMQ0w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a>. “However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule.”
Telegram, a private messaging service, is working with the new government to identify and censor content. &#8220;Telegram is a platform that supports the right to free speech and peaceful protest. Calls to violence, however, are explicitly forbidden on our platform,&#8221; a spokesperson remarked. &#8220;Our moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring in public-facing parts of our platform in addition to accepting user reports, in order to remove such content.&#8221;
The protests came almost two years after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, drawing a comparison between the two events from American commentators. The former commander-in-chief was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/social-media-platforms-have-no-plans-to-lift-bans-on-trumps-accounts-despite-third-white-house-bid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> from major social media platforms following the incident; his account was recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-elon-musk-to-reinstate-trump-on-twitter-trump-has-repeatedly-stated-he-wont-come-back" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restored</a> on Twitter after the company was purchased by Elon Musk.
Cooperation between at least one social media platform and the Lula administration occurs after the Twitter Files revealed extensive collaboration between the company and various American federal law enforcement agencies. One set of emails <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-twitter-files-show-fbi-paid-twitter-millions-influenced-execs-to-censor-hunter-biden-laptop-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provided</a> by Musk to independent journalists showed that there was “an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community” aimed at “senior executives at news and social media companies” to discredit “leaked information about Hunter Biden before and after it was published.”

Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro storm Congress building

Big Tech Platforms Remove Content Supporting Pro-Bolsonaro Rioters Who Stormed Brazilian Federal Buildings

Tech Firms Remove Content Backing Brazil Riot

Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro

World

A viral <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook">Facebook</a> post detailing changes to the newest version of the classic Hasbro game, The Game of Life, has many fans upset about how &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/woke">woke</a>&#8221; it is.
After realizing how it had evolved from the original version, social media user Lindsay Harold laid out her issues with the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">board game</a>.
“My girls got The Game of LIFE for Christmas. In helping them learn to play it, I expected a nostalgic experience full of memories of playing it as a child. But the game has changed profoundly. It&#8217;s not at all the game I remember,” she <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227403646293120&amp;set=a.10201551719131098">began</a>.
“Oh, there are similarities, of course,&#8221; the post continued. &#8220;The general idea of living a life during the course of the game and ending at retirement is still there. It still has college and career options and paydays and a little car you move along the board, adding more peg characters as you go. But in several major ways, it is now very much a woke game. The changes are a microcosm of how society has changed over the last generation or so.” 
Next, Harold reviewed some significant changes, including updates to marriage, families, and pets.
“In my childhood version, the people were either blue or pink, male or female. You married someone of the opposite color and the game prescribed whether you had a baby boy or a baby girl each time, depending on which space you landed,” she wrote. 
But in the newer version, the pegs come in a rainbow of genderless colors, and not all of them are even human.
“Not only can you add a spouse and children and friends (it&#8217;s not just family anymore) to the car, but you can also add a pet, which is represented by the same little peg person,” the post continued. “So there&#8217;s no longer two genders and pets are now people too.”
She complained that marriage cost money and took longer compared to the older Game of Life. Also, she pointed out how in the older game, families could have as many children as they wanted but are now capped at four. 
The Facebook user summed up the game-playing experience by comparing it to changes in modern society. 
“In the old game of LIFE, everyone married and most had kids, as that was something that just happened after you married. You could build a great life in multiple ways because marrying and children were legitimate ways to invest in the future, just like the more financial options such as buying a house or choosing a career. Family was wealth, not liability. And it was just fun seeing what kind of family you ended up with,” she wrote.
“The new game sends a very different message,” Harold warns. “If you want to win this dystopian game of LIFE, it&#8217;s best to avoid marriage and children as they cost you and slow you down. You definitely can&#8217;t have a lot of kids. That&#8217;s not even an option.&#8221;
She concludes: “So, needless to say, I&#8217;m not at all happy with the new version of the game. I don&#8217;t recommend this one at all. Wokeness ruins everything.”
The Game of Life was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley. It has undergone several iterations over the decades, including a 1991 version that rewarded players for “good behavior,” such as recycling trash and helping the homeless. The newest version of Life has modern elements, such as careers in vlogging and online sport competition cards.

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Viral Facebook Post Details Changes To Hasbro’s Game Of Life: ‘Wokeness Ruins Everything’

Viral Facebook Post Details Changes To Hasbro's Game Of Life

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