Meta Accused of Misleading the Public About Harmful Content on its Platforms
A newly unsealed complaint has accused Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, of downplaying the rates of misinformation, hate speech, discrimination, and other harmful content on its platforms. This complaint has been filed on behalf of 33 states.
The complaint alleges that Meta has been touting low rates of harmful content in its quarterly reports while internal data reveals much higher rates of user encounters with such content. For example, the company reported that only 10 or 11 out of every 10,000 content views on its platforms contained hate speech. However, internal user surveys told a different story, with significantly higher levels of hate speech being reported users.
Similarly, the complaint also indicated that an average of 12.2% of Instagram users and 16.6% of Facebook users reported seeing graphic violence on these platforms, while over 20% witnessed bullying and harassment, contradicting Meta’s claims. The complaint suggested that Meta concealed these figures to create the impression that harmful content is not prevalent on its platforms.
The complaint, which cited several other statistics on harmful content gathered from various internal reports, stated that Meta used reports like the Community Standards Enforcement Report (CSER) to mislead the public about the prevalence of harmful content on its platforms.
Meta did not respond to Business Insider’s request for a comment, but the company stated that the states’ complaint “mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents.” The complaint did not delve into many details on the methodology for its internal user surveys, leaving some questions about the accuracy of the discrepancy between internal reports and the CSER.
The allegations against Meta highlight the ongoing concerns and scrutiny over social media platforms’ handling of harmful content and the transparency of their reporting. It remains to be seen how Meta will respond to these serious accusations.