The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have accused Meta of “allowing more abuse and normalising hate speech” after its decision to scrap third-party fact-checking and loosen its content moderation.
Harry and Meghan, in a lengthy statement issued on behalf of their Archewell Foundation, criticised the social media giant for responding to “political winds” and “abandon(ing) public safety in favour of profit, chaos, and control”.
“This should deeply concern us all,” the message read. “Contrary to the company’s talking points, allowing more abuse and normalising hate speech serves to silence speech and expression, not foster it.”
The Sussexes released a lengthy statement (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
They labelled Meta “deeply deceptive” over its rollback of protections despite commitments to parents and families calling for change, accusing it of contributing to a global mental health crisis.
The statement added: “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 favour of profit, chaos, and control.”
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg confirmed last week the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads would replace its longstanding fact-checking programme with a “community notes” system similar to Elon Musk’s X platform.
Mr Zuckerberg said the move, seen by some as an attempt to curry favour with the incoming Donald Trump administration in the US, was about “restoring freedom of expression”.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has announced fact-checking changes to his platforms (Niall Carson/PA)
But online safety campaigners have expressed concern it will allow misinformation to spread more easily and leave children and young people vulnerable to harmful content.
Harry and Meghan’s standpoint comes just a fortnight after the duchess relaunched herself on Instagram, where she has since promoted her new Netflix lifestyle series and announced the death of her dog Guy.
The couple’s foundation unveiled its Parents Network last year as a support system for parents of children affected by online harm.
The Sussexes called on Meta to reconsider the changes, and urged firms to commit to make online spaces safe, saying: “We applaud leaders who refuse to kowtow to bullying”.
They added: “Meta’s changes to its ‘Hateful Content Policies’ 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.”
They also expressed concern over its plans to end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative.
Moves to axe Meta’s DEI team were revealed this week, with the firm also saying it would end its “diverse slate approach” to hiring.
The Sussexes’ statement said: “These decisions echo what experts, whistleblowers and families have raised in hearings on online harm, especially regarding children’s safety: platform design, dictated by internal policies, directly determines our online experience.
“To ignore this is knowingly putting everyone in harm’s way and contributing to a global mental health crisis.”