Last week, the collective “We” managed to bully Meta into deleting a bunch of old AI Managed Instagram accounts. Good job. High fives. Corporate bullying works sometimes. Those profiles were created in 2023 as part of an “early experiment” and were managed by humans, which somehow makes how terrible they were even worse. The entire program the test was a part of, which also included celebrity chatbots, was nuked due to a complete lack of user interest. Imagine that. No one wants to spend their time on social media talking to robots. Who would have guessed?
But, because we continue to live in the worst timeline, where all of the rich Tech Bros who run our social platforms are bending down to kiss the ring of an aspiring dictator, things are only getting worse at Meta, and just calling them out on it is not going to fix it.
In September, Meta announced new AI features for user accounts:
“We’re testing new Meta AI-generated content in your Facebook and Instagram feeds, so you may see images from Meta AI created just for you (based on your interests or current trends),”
According to a 404 Media report based on a Reddit post, Instagram took a selfie a user created with the platform’s AI editing tool and started using it on targeted ads in his feed.
Used Meta AI to edit a selfie, now instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me.
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Because I am trying to do responsible journalism, I tested this out for myself on Instagram. I couldn’t find an AI tool to edit my photo post. But I was able to find the AI tool to create a new Story, and I don’t know how I feel about AI Jen. She’s certainly living a more interesting life than I am, has much better hair, and a more contoured jawline. But Uncanny Valley Jen creeps me out.
I posted one of those images to my Story. I haven’t seen any targeted ads with my AI face on them yet. Now that I’m one of the ghosts in the machine, it’s only a matter of time. I’m old enough to remember when people used to get mad at Facebook posters because social media felt inauthentic if users only posted the best of themselves. People were accused of creating unrealistic standards if they only posted about the beautiful, perfect moments of their lives. Now we can post entirely fake moments and faces! I don’t know how to play the guitar, let alone a guitar made of spaghetti. But, thanks to Meta, now I can convince everyone in my graduating class that I can. The next reunion is going to be great.
Worse things are coming, though. Mark Zuckerberg put on his fanciest gold chain medallion and took it to Threads this morning to announce upcoming changes to moderation. As per Zuck’s post, “It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression and giving people a voice on our platforms.”
Changes to Meta in 2025 include getting rid of fact-checkers in place of Twitter/X-style Community Notes, simplifying content policies and removing restrictions on content around immigration and gender, as well as “remov[ing] the vast majority of censorship mistakes by focusing our filters on tackling illegal and high-severity violations.”
Zuckerberg also highlighted the move for the content and safety moderation team from California to Texas to “remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content.”
Yep, because there’s definitely no one with any sort of bias living in Texas. That state has been 100% bias-free since 1836.
It’s all garbage. Zuckerberg has had his whole mouth wrapped around Trump’s boot since he was reelected. Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in December, and it’s hard to see that amount as anything but a protection payment to keep Meta safe from any regulations foreign countries may be considering for social media platforms. Cowering behind an oligarch is not a good look, Zuck.
Zuckerberg’s announcement today reflects a desire to follow in Elon Musk’s footsteps on how a social media platform should be run. It’s a terrible business plan considering Twitter has been hemorrhaging users and advertisers since Musk took over. More so since the election. Threads users were not shy about sharing BlueSky handles in the wake of Zuckerberg’s announcement, and they let him know what they think about this plan.
In other terrible business decision news, in a Threads post yesterday, UFC CEO Dana White announced his addition to Meta’s Board of Directors.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, was quick to reply with enthusiasm that was only matched by the enthusiasm of folks posting receipts for Dana White’s violent, abusive nature.
Meta is hastening its own demise, initiating these policies that nobody asked for and that we already know cause harm to users. There was a time when users would have probably sat back and taken these changes complacently. That time was six months ago. But it feels like social media is ripe for a sea change. BlueSky offers a somewhat less offensive user experience, for now. And many larger accounts are talking about abandoning social media altogether and going back to newsletters.
I can’t help but wonder what direction Meta had in mind if the election results had gone the other way. If Kamala Harris were about to be inaugurated, would Zuckerberg be so quick to align himself and his company with policies known to harm marginalized communities? Is this shift completely opportunistic, or has it been inevitable all along? Musk has been The Big Bad for so long and so effectively that we’ve forgotten what Zuckerberg is capable of. He and Jeff Bezos seem hellbent on reminding us that behind the mask of every Scooby-Doo villain is an angry, old white dude determined to enrich himself by any means necessary.