An unexpected reorganization of the content moderation system in the spirit of “free speech” on the Meta✴ Platforms-owned social network Facebook✴ has raised concerns among advertisers. They believe this approach could lead to a surge in harmful content and misinformation on the platform, and no one wants to advertise next to such content. Ultimately, this will negatively impact the platform’s advertising revenue.
Image source: about.fb.com
The Financial Times writes about this with reference to major advertisers who believe that Meta✴’s decision to end its fact-checking program and weaken the moderation of messages published by users could be costly for the social network, the majority of whose income comes from advertising. This is because brands are concerned about their ads appearing next to toxic content.
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Facebook✴’s dramatic loosening of control over online content is part of Meta✴ CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s bid to win the support of US President-elect Donald Trump and one of his main allies, Elon Musk. It took Zuckerberg just a few days to replace the head of Meta✴’s global policy department and also bring Dana White, who is a friend of Trump, to the company’s board of directors. Late last week, Meta✴ also announced it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion program, and Zuckerberg said in a recent speech that corporations have become “culturally neutered” and need more “masculine energy” and “more encouragement of aggression.”
But the move away from professional fact-checkers in favor of Social Network X’s approach, where users can flag fake posts themselves, has raised concerns in the advertising industry. Meta✴ has long been among the leaders in the online advertising segment along with Google, building a reputation as a relatively safe partner that can provide advertisers with high returns and has close ties with major brands. Unlike Meta✴, Musk’s social network X has experienced an outflow of advertisers precisely because of problems with content moderation, which has led to a decrease in the company’s revenue.
«Meta has done a great job of eliminating the worst of toxic content, and if their new policy does away with that, advertisers will quickly notice and punish the company,” said Richard Exon, founder of ad agency Joint.
Lou Paskalis, chief executive of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory and former head of media relations at Bank of America, said Meta✴’s change in content moderation policies “will create barriers for risk-averse marketers.” In his opinion, this will lead to some advertisers reducing their dependence on Meta✴.
Top executives at other ad agencies said news of Meta✴’s policy change made them “nervous” and they want more information from the company about exactly how Zuckerberg’s announced changes will be implemented. “Brands are entering a new world where established rules can no longer be relied upon,” said Patrick Reid, chief executive of creative advertising agency Imagination.
Advertisers have also raised concerns about Meta✴’s plans to tweak its moderation algorithms to “dramatically reduce” the amount of content that filters automatically remove. This includes lifting restrictions on posting on topics such as migration and gender. Instead, the company wants to focus its efforts on finding more serious violations, including those related to fraud, terrorism, suicide, etc. At the same time, Zuckerberg admitted that the company’s systems will now catch “fewer bad things.”
However, not all advertisers are so confident that weakening censorship on Meta✴ platforms will seriously harm the company’s business. “The cold hard truth is that advertisers will only care if it hurts their metrics. If numbers remain stable, no one will be left scratching their heads about where and how their ads are being shown,” said Alex Cheeseman, head of UK at Outbrain.
At CES 2025 recently, Meta✴ chief marketing officer Alex Shultz said advertiser security tools are here to stay and the company is taking its time implementing the new policy to give advertisers “time to adapt.” Meta✴ Business Group Head Nicola Mendelson wrote in a recent LinkedIn post that Meta✴ will continue to invest in security tools for advertisers.
According to the source, the news about the change in Meta✴ policy divided the company’s employees into two camps. Some of them perceived the weakening of censorship as a refusal of important protection measures, but at the same time they were “afraid to openly express their opinions” for fear of being fired. However, most employees were positive about the company’s policy change, especially because fact-checking is considered a thankless task, “because one side or the other is bound to accuse you of taking sides.” People who know Zuckerberg personally say that the head of Meta✴ has long been a supporter of free speech, but he is accustomed to changing his position depending on political and public pressure.