- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
Meta announced a series of major updates to its content moderation policies today, including ending its fact-checking partnerships and “getting rid” of restrictions on speech about “topics like immigration, gender identity and gender” that the company describes as frequent subjects of political discourse and debate. “It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms,” Meta’s newly appointed chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, wrote in a blog post outlining the changes.
In an accompanying video, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the company’s current rules in these areas as “just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”
In tandem with this announcement, the company made a number of updates across its Community Guidelines, an extensive set of rules that outline what kinds of content are prohibited on Meta’s platforms, including Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Some of the most striking changes were made to Meta’s “Hateful Conduct” policy, which covers discussions on immigration and gender.
In a notable shift, the company now says it allows “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.’”
In other words, Meta now appears to permit users to accuse transgender or gay people of being mentally ill because of their gender expression and sexual orientation. The company did not respond to requests for clarification on the policy.
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I’m trans. I do have mental illness. It’s because society keeps sending me signals that I shouldn’t exist.
Is gender dysphoria not considered a health issue?? Legit asking. Like I thought the whole point of transitioning is that that is the treatment for it. That’s not a BAD thing, but it is A thing. Calling gay people mentally ill is obviously non sense. Calling ALL trans people mentally ill I don’t think is accurate… if they’ve actually transitioned lmao. Then they’re not sick anymore ?? Plz let me know if that take is incorrect. Feel like having pre-transition gender dysphoria compared to other mental illnesses like anxiety/depression/etc is a positive thing because it normalizes it to a degree.
Big difference between them being… there IS actually a cure to gender dysphoria compared to many other mental illnesses that can only be treated. Arguing with a right winger about this shit, he said he felt bad for trans people and that they were mentally ill. My response was “yeah no shit, you realize the way to reduce their risk of suicide is by letting them get the care they and their doctors deem necessary. It’s straight cruelty to acknowledge that it is something they need help with yet demonizing them for seeking help.”
Guess the people saying shit like the headline aren’t doing so with nuance in mind, and for them anyone trans at all = weird/mentally ill/sick.
The whole thing with trans health is that being trans is not considered a mental illness but gender dysphoria still has a diagnostic rubric and has health problems associated. So saying trans people who have transitioned aren’t sick anymore isn’t quite accurate because they were never considered sick in the first place. One of the ideas behind this way of thinking is a trans person’s issues aren’t caused because they are trans, it’s caused largely due to the lack of acceptance and support in the society around trans people. Framing transness as a mental illness also ignores the flipside of dysphoria - gender euphoria which is a very specific joy experienced by trans people expressing themselves healthily, it’s not simply from lessening pain around dysphoria, it’s basically something mostly unique to the trans experience that is overwhelmingly positive.
Also there’s not a one size fits all response to dysphoria. Some chose to physically transition and others choose to use other management techniques to help. There isn’t a “cure” to gender dysphoria. There are limits to what can be achieved through physical transition even if one goes all the way. One can have dysphoria around stuff like not having periods and child bearing capabilities even if they are fully transitioned or there are things that are irreversible if the transition happens too late. Being trans can be a kind of complicated state of being where one needs to learn and implement how best to be supported. Framing it not as an illness removes the stigma of looking at the experience entirely clinically as something to be solved. The fix isn’t to be “less trans” as it is when one approaches something as a disorder to be removed and minimized.
What trump wants to do to trans people is the equivalent of lobotomizing everyone with bipolar disorder because you don’t believe the accepted treatments work.
Gender dyspohoria is a mental health condition the same way ADHD is. Do you run around calling people with ADHD mentally ill? No. And, gender dysphoria is one of the easiest neurodivergent conditions to treat. You let the person be the gender they already know they are. Doing anything else may as well be lobotomizing them. It’s unacceptable and creates more problems. Plus it’s fucking cruel.
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Gotta have an out group for the in group to vilify and all that :| I do get your point about calling someone with any kind of mental illness “mentally ill”. That does feel rude. It’s “technically correct*” but that doesn’t make it less rude.
From googling 23% of US adults (assumed because current empire. Even being a US citizen, having some knowledge of history I can’t blame people in other countries hoping/plotting to knock Hamburgerland down a few pegs because that’s what happens, and we are absolutely past the zenith of American dominance) have a diagnosed mental illness. Lotta folks probably are undiagnosed. As is consistent with history, even in this golden era of mental health awareness, trans people are being othered. I would be curious to see some graphs of trans folk being mentioned in newspapers/magazines since the 1920s as a ratio of printed pieces.
My thoughts exactly. As an outsider looking in, how would you classify gender dysphoria other than an illness?
It’s treatable, just not the way religious fanatics want to.
Lmaooooo exactly how that convo went with that guy. “Yes theyre sick but think about all the people who transitioned before they were adults who regret it… I am going to focus on those people and ignore how 95% of cases the person doesn’t regret it.”
98% don’t regret it and those who do overwhemingly onlu regret it because of how society treats them.
I didn’t know that “how society treats them” with the regret part o.o can you source on that for future reference
I get the sense a bunch of y’all weren’t around for the early internet.
Lots of dumb people out there and they’re doing to say all kinds of deranged shit. Grow a pair and move on.
Real “Old Man on the Porch” vibes coming from this one. I was around for the early internet, you’re completely losing touch with society and reality if you think it’s the same.
Most people at that time didn’t get their news and gossip from a device in their hand. It was called a newspaper, education, or listening to your peers. Internet extremists were still considered fringe or whacko’s and you had to hunt them down to learn more, they weren’t blasted by an algorithm on a front loading page for you.
People’s businesses and way of life weren’t determined by their access to internet and the corporations didn’t have such a stranglehold across the economical board when it came to online. The hero worship of those that control the companies wasn’t at such an all time high, but considered a weird cult.
I’m not even going to go into the difference a child has on the internet today versus what a kid going through the 90’s was like, there’s just no comparison to what’s going on now. Yeah we had obscure boards, messengers, and silly videos on multiple sites…that’s seriously nothing compared to how mainstream everything has become.
Guillotine Luigi.
What did Mario bros do to deserve such fate
I still think this whole idea that we were going to get big tech (or anyone really), as owners of the modern mediums of communication, to act as the arbiters of truth and harmful messages was always a ridiculous notion. It’s both not in their interests and not in their power.
The mainstream of the liberals and the left seem to have become so obsessed with policing speech that they’ve nearly completely given up on meaningfully improving the material conditions of people’s lives. You win the narrative by delivering real results that people can see and feel, not by trying to ban charlatans from spinning bullshit.
Change the world, and the narrative will follow. Not the other way around.
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I think it’s more about being able to play as the oppressed, and whip up their base. There have been many platforms where they could post their hate. Censoring speech just fuels outrage and invites the Streisand effect.
But in this case I don’t think Zuck really cares about enabling these right-wing messages. It’s about saving money by cutting a bunch of expensive fact checkers, and displaying friendliness toward the new president; either because they don’t want to be singled out for punishment, or they hope to be rewarded with some largess.
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You can now refer to women as property on Facebook and they are A-OK with that! But you will, and it has happened to me, catch an instant ban if you say all men are trash.
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think people should be saying or be allowed to say either of those two things. Neither of those two things are good for anyone.
I think people should be able to say whatever bs they want to, but their identity should be attached to it.
Okay, whats your name, ip address, address, social security number …
That’s fine, I just choose to share last. Same as gun control. Every other entity needs to be disarmed. Every fucking government and billionaire too. Then I’m good with sharing everything.
People need to stop using Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and Instagram.
Facebook, Instagram and Threads are easy, I was never on Threads and largely used the others for following people and groups rather than actively posting.
WhatsApp is the tricky one as all my friends and family are on there and it is pretty important. I could get some people to move to Matrix but not everyone. Luckily, it’s the one that is the most difficult to enshittify. Still…
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Meta is bad, but why leave WhatsApp? No ads, no moderation, no interference.
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I wrote my deletion post just a few hours ago actually. Cited sexism, homophobia, anti-immigration, no more fact-checking etc. I said I’d leave the account up for a few days in case anyone wanted to arrange a way to stay in contact (since I’ve had friends there since 2007), but after that I’m gone.
“getting rid” of restrictions on speech about “topics like immigration, gender identity and gender” that the company describes as frequent subjects of political discourse and debate. “It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms,”
Yet when my mom tried to post about a museum visit, Facebook wouldn’t let her because it contained the word “Lenin”. Interesting.
Can you elaborate?
Not much to elaborate here, the situation was what I described above. As for how this is relevant to the post, I feel like Meta/Facebook has also jumped on the “free speech for me but not for thee” bandwagon.
Soon the Metaverse will resemble a classic CoD lobby.
When you finish reading this comment, you will forget you were ever gay.
