Meghan condemns Facebook for scrapping fact-checkers days after her social media return

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have accused Meta of normalising hate speech over a change in its fact-checking policy that came days after Meghan rejoined social media.

The Sussexes, speaking through their foundation, said the new policy should “deeply concern us all”, serving to “directly undermine free speech” and showing that the company’s commitments have “very little meaning or integrity”.

In a 631-word statement published on the website of the Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, they accused the platform of “once again abandon[ing] public safety in favor of profit, chaos, and control”.

“To ignore this is knowingly putting everyone in harm’s way and contributing to a global mental health crisis,” they said.

“We urge Meta to reconsider and reinstate policies to protect all users.

“We also call on leaders across industries to uphold their commitments to integrity and public safety in online spaces, and we applaud leaders who refuse to kowtow to bullying.”

Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, is the technology company formerly known as Facebook which now owns and operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

On Jan 1, the Duchess relaunched her Instagram account, now called @‌meghan, with a video in which she wrote “2025” in the sand on a Californian beach.

Then she made plans to “authentically share moments of joy and inspiration from her life”, as well as reconnecting with the public and sharing updates on her “impactful projects”.

She is said to be committed to promoting a “joyful and thoughtful” approach to online engagement to inspire “meaningful connections and positivity”.

On Jan 7, Mr Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be scrapping its fact-checking programme, getting “rid of a bunch of restrictions” on topics including gender and immigration, and accused them of being “too politically biased”.

They will be replaced by a form of community notes.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not directly address Meghan’s new use of social media in the statement.

But it is understood that the Duchess has previously engaged in “constructive conversations” with senior executives at Meta about creating safer, more positive online environments, and is intending to continue to advocate for it.

The Sussexes have now pledged to make “new contributions to those working to help policymakers better understand platform design impacts” and work with non-profit Screen Sanity to boost their curriculum for parents “navigating the digital age”.

They said: “It doesn’t matter whether your views are left, right or somewhere in between – the latest news from Meta about changes to their policies directly undermines free speech.

“This should deeply concern us all.

‘Normalizing hate speech’

“Contrary to the company’s talking points, allowing more abuse and normalizing hate speech serves to silence speech and expression, not foster it.

“In an already confusing and, in many instances, intentionally disruptive information environment, Meta has shown their words and commitments have very little meaning or integrity.

“As they announce these changes undoubtedly responding to political winds, they once again abandon public safety in favor of profit, chaos, and control.

“The company’s decision to rollback protections is so far away from its stated values and commitments to its users – including the parents and families calling for change around the globe – that it’s now deeply deceptive.”

The Duke and Duchess have recently campaigned for greater child safety online, founding The Parents’ Network to support those who have lost a child as a result of online harms.

It comes seven years after Prince William accused the world’s social media giants of failing to protect children from the hate and bile of social media, after trying to work with them to tackle cyberbullying and being shocked at their “defensive” attitude.

In 2018, the Prince said that firms were failing to take seriously the real fears of parents whose children faced “supercharged” bullying online, in a situation already “leaving some children to take their own lives when they felt it was inescapable”.

On Monday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: “Having worked in this space for the last five years and witnessing the real-world devastation these decisions have, we feel there is no justification for why this industry behaves as if they are exempt from the ethical and moral standards everyone else abides by.”

They added that Meta’s recent decisions “go directly against” its stated mission to “build human connection” and instead “prioritise those using the platforms to spread hate, lies and division at the expense of everyone else”.

Saying Meta’s decision had a “profound global impact”, with “online spaces so clearly shaping or destroying democracy”, they argued that online spaces must be “resilient against political pressures and lapses in corporate leadership”.

“This latest move from Meta is an example of a social media company – fully aware of their power to shape public discourse – disregarding any responsibility to ensure that power is not abused and instead allowing either ego or profit, likely both, to guide decisions that affect billions,” they said.

They said they were particularly alarmed by plans to “abandon commitments to diversity and equity”, arguing that changes “do not protect free expression but instead foster an environment where abuse and hate speech silence and threaten the voices of whole communities who make up a healthy democracy”.

The statement titled “Fact-Checking Meta” concluded: “We at The Archewell Foundation remain committed to promoting accountability, safeguarding information integrity, and protecting all communities in the digital age.

“We hope and expect those enabling Meta’s profits, like advertisers and shareholders, to do the same.”

‘Facebook Jail’

Explaining the decision to remove fact-checkers at Meta, Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer, has said: “In recent years we’ve developed increasingly complex systems to manage content across our platforms, partly in response to societal and political pressure to moderate content.

“This approach has gone too far.

“As well-intentioned as many of these efforts have been, they have expanded over time to the point where we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable.

“Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in “Facebook jail,” and we are often too slow to respond when they do.

“We want to fix that and return to that fundamental commitment to free expression.”

Meta’s policy on child protection states: “ We’ve developed a three-pronged, industry-leading approach to protecting young people online.

“First, we focus on preventing harm from happening in the first place. We do that by enforcing zero-tolerance policies and developing cutting-edge, preventative tools.

“Then, we make it easy to report potential harms, and we respond to take action.

“And always, we collaborate with global experts and industry partners to update our tools that keep young people safe.”