<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

Facebook&#8217;s parent company, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a>, is considering a decentralized, text-based <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> platform comparable to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> after some users, many of whom are Left-leaning, are seeking alternatives due to the company’s acquisition by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a>.
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.
“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” Meta said in a <a href="https://www.platformer.news/p/meta-is-building-a-decentralized?publication_id=7976&amp;post_id=107445508&amp;isFreemail=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> provided to The Platformer. “We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.”
The revelation comes weeks after Instagram <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2022/12/sharing-features-on-instagram-notes-group-profiles-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> 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 <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/meta-mulls-a-twitter-competitor-codenamed-p92-that-will-be-interoperable-with-mastodon-10223961.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from MoneyControl, which first broke the news of the initiative. “The team is also discussing whether to have the ability to reshare content like Twitter apart from business and creator accounts,” one source told the outlet. “A rights manager will be integrated from the beginning for first party content, but probably not for third party content from other apps and servers.”
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.
Some 37% of Americans approve of the way Musk is operating Twitter, while 37% disapprove and 25% did not offer an opinion, according to a <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3863" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Quinnipiac University released in December. Roughly 55% of respondents disapproved of the manner in which the world’s richest man handles purported misinformation.
Musk previously <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585619322239561728" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> advertisers that he acquired Twitter to “have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.” He has meanwhile expressed a desire to refrain from promoting what he deems to be radical Left-wing and Right-wing content on the site and vowed that the social media platform would not become a “free-for-all hellscape” where users could breach the law with impunity or splinter into “echo chambers.”
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Amendments to the company’s former content moderation policies have been especially unpopular among left-of-center users. Net favorability for Tesla, the electric automaker led by Musk, decreased 20.3% among Democrats between October and November 2022, the time frame of the acquisition, according to a <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2022/11/17/elon-musks-politically-polarizing-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Morning Consult. Net favorability among Republicans increased 3.9% over the same period.
Though a number of conservative accounts have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/babylon-bee-ceo-we-now-have-more-twitter-followers-than-ever-because-we-stubbornly-refused-to-bend-the-knee-for-tyrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restored</a> to the platform since Musk assumed control, including those belonging to DailyWire+ host Jordan Peterson and Christian satire site The Babylon Bee, some censorious actions appear to have continued. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) were each suspended from Twitter in recent weeks; the former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-being-fixed-musk-responds-after-gop-senator-was-locked-out-of-twitter-over-hunting-picture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changed</a> his profile picture to an image from a hunting trip, while the latter was incorrectly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/utah-senator-mike-lee-suspended-from-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flagged</a> as an impersonator.

SpaceX And T-Mobile Hold Joint Event In Texas

Meta Working On Alternative To Elon Musk’s Twitter

Meta Working On Twitter Alternative

Elon Musk

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a> employees are furious as the company rolls back <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/remote-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remote work</a> arrangements, with some threatening to quit and others drafting petitions in reaction to a recent announcement that they must report to the office at least three times per week.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/large-companies-roll-back-remote-work-make-employees-show-up-to-the-office-at-least-part-of-the-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> to employees on Friday that the company believes “teams tend to find ways to work through hard and complex trade-offs faster” when they are in the same physical location. Shortly after the announcement, hundreds of Amazon staffers started joining an internal Slack channel called Remote Advocacy; there were more than 14,000 members of the channel as of Tuesday, according to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employees-plan-to-fight-against-return-to-office-policy-2023-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Business Insider.
Nearly 80% of workers in the channel claimed they would start to look for another job because of the new policy. &#8220;This is going to be absolute chaos and make everyone&#8217;s work distracted for probably a quarter, maybe longer,&#8221; one disgruntled employee wrote. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to be productive with so much uncertainty injected into our lives.&#8221;
The shift toward more traditional work arrangements, however, comes as Amazon seeks to downsize amid macroeconomic tumult and a decline in consumer demand that followed the lockdown-induced recession. Amazon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amazon-dismisses-thousands-of-employees-in-bid-to-reduce-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> some 18,000 employees over the past several months and implemented a freeze on incremental hires in the corporate workforce.
Employees in the Slack channel nevertheless drafted petitions against the return to office policy. &#8220;We, the undersigned Amazonians, are responding by petitioning for the right to choose where to work, including remote locations,&#8221; an early version of the document said, according to Business Insider. The petition included survey data which found 56% of Amazon employees desire “monthly sync-ups in the office,” while 31% want to work in the office one or two days per week.
Employees tend to prefer remote work arrangements because of time savings from avoided commutes, as well as flexibility to balance work and personal matters, according to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/355907/remote-work-persisting-trending-permanent.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a> from Gallup. The costs for employers, however, can outweigh the benefits of attracting and retaining talent sometimes produced through virtual work policies: 85% of managers believe the shift to hybrid work “has made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being 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.
Jassy and other executives said the lockdowns affirmed the importance of creating meaningful relationships between team members. “It’s easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture when we’re in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues,” he wrote to employees. “When you’re in-person, people tend to be more engaged, observant, and attuned to what’s happening in the meetings and the cultural clues being communicated.”
Other companies, such as Walmart and Disney, have likewise <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/back-to-work-disney-employees-told-to-show-up-in-the-office-at-least-four-days-a-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pivoted</a> away from their virtual work arrangements in recent weeks. Employees of the former company must work at least twice per week from physical offices, while employees at the latter must work from offices four days per week, preferably between Monday and Thursday.
Many firms have included carveouts that allow top performers to continue working from home. Walmart will permit some employees to remain full-time remote staff members even as they force others to relocate while technology hubs across the nation are shuttered; Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a leading skeptic of virtual work arrangements, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-remote-work-is-no-longer-acceptable-at-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he would consider allowing “particularly exceptional contributors” at the automaker to work remotely.

Amazon

Thousands Of Amazon Employees Revolt As CEO Makes Them Show Up In Office At Least Three Days Per Week

Thousands Of Amazon Employees Revolt As CEO Makes Them Show Up In Office

Economy

Remote Work

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.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

gender-fluid

Transgender

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> denied a request to make public any payments it may have made to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/google" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> because such records could reveal protected information about law enforcement.
The FBI was recently revealed to have paid the social media company Twitter $3.4 million to process requests for information on or censorship of numerous accounts on the platform. Through a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request, The Daily Wire sought similar records of payments the agency may have made to Meta, which controls Facebook and Instagram, and Google, which controls YouTube.
“The FBI can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records responsive to your request pursuant to FOIA Exemption (b)(7)(E) [5 U.S.C.§552 (b)(7)(E)]. The nature of your request implicates records the FBI may or may not compile for law enforcement purposes,” the FBI told The Daily Wire Monday in a written <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/618959172/FBI-response-to-Daily-Wire-FOIA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">response</a> to a December 20 FOIA request.
“Please be advised per standard FBI practice and policy this response neither confirms nor denies the existence of any records which would disclose techniques, procedures, or guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions and risk circumvention of the law by FOIA Exemption (b)(7)(E) [5 U.S.C.§552 (b)(7)(E)]. Therefore, your request is being administratively closed,” the FBI said.
A slate of communications and records from Twitter released by its new head, Elon Musk, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-twitter-files-show-fbi-paid-twitter-millions-influenced-execs-to-censor-hunter-biden-laptop-story">revealed</a> that the FBI had a relationship with the social media giant that developed into a partnership in which the agency would pay the company to process requests for censorship and information on certain social media accounts.
One message from February 2021 <a href="https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1604908670063906817" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the FBI paid Twitter millions of dollars in compensation for the time the company’s staff spent processing the FBI’s myriad requests.
“In 2019 [Twitter’s Safety, Content, &amp; Law Enforcement team] instituted a reimbursement program for our legal process response from the FBI. Prior to the start of the program, Twitter chose not to collect under this statutory right of reimbursement for the time spent processing requests from the FBI,” the email said. “I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!”
The FBI’s relationship with the company influenced the platform’s censorship decisions at a high level. For instance, Twitter’s former head of site integrity, Yoel Roth, <a href="https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1604879477732831235">testified</a> in December 2020 that the FBI and other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community had primed Twitter to watch out for alleged “hack-and-leak operations” by the state actors, namely Russia, ahead of the release of emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made similar claims in an appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” in August.
“The FBI basically came to us, some folks on our team was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that basically There’s about to be some kind of dump that’s similar to that,’” Zuckerberg said.
The New York Post dropped a story on Hunter’s laptop in October 2020 which was subsequently censored or suppressed on Twitter and Facebook. One of the largest proponents for censoring the story inside Twitter was the company’s deputy general counsel James Baker, who joined the social media platform after a stint as the FBI’s general counsel.
Roth eventually made the call to censor the Biden laptop story after rounds of internal debate. “The suggestion from experts &#8211; which rings true &#8211; is there was a hack that happened separately, and they loaded the hacked materials on the laptop that magically appeared at a repair shop in Delaware,” Roth said in an email.

FBI seal

After Paying Twitter Millions, FBI Says Other Possible Big Tech Payments Are Protected For ‘Law Enforcement Purposes’

Google

<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.”

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