Meta is killing political content - here’s what campaigners need to do
This piece was originally published in my newsletter on how we win change.
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Oh my God I promise not every newsletter will be an interview with a Southern European man.
But here’s the thing. Meta’s policy change is a really big deal for any activist or organisation who uses Instagram, Facebook or Threads, and there’s a degree of complexity here which means I need somebody in the know.
Enter Massimo Rotunno. Max is an election consultant and specialist in AI for communications. He understands the tech behind Meta better than anyone I know.
So here’s what the policy means for you.
Meta just changed their policy.
Political content will only be recommended to people who opt in.
The new policy, which applies to Threads, Instagram and (soon) Facebook, means that if you post political content, your followers will see it but it won’t be shown to people who don’t follow you unless they opt in to political content. As Max says, “you can still opt in to receive political content but almost nobody is going to do that.”
But what is political? And does this apply to ads?
Nobody knows how the policy will be applied - but Max thinks it will be strict.
Meta’s definition of “political” is vague to the point of being useless, which is where Max’s expertise is invaluable.
“I think they’re more likely to be too strict than not strict enough. I mean, they will probably flag some things as political that are not. Or they will flag things that are only political in a tangential way.” And thanks to AI’s evolution in the last year, Meta is getting better at moderation. “I think that these [AI moderation] models like ‘Llama’ are working properly. They will be able to flag something as political once they’re trained.”
Political influencers have already responded creatively, with Mikaela Loach using the word “p0 litical” instead of “political”, for instance. But Max says that the speed with which these loopholes can be closed by Meta makes this strategy unsustainable. “It’s like what happened with Gaza. Sure, it’s fine typing “G4za” but once Meta trains the AI to understand this, you won’t be able to use it anymore.”
I am partially convinced.
Meta is shit scared. But their history of moderation is not littered with success, especially in languages that are not English. They employ exactly one person in moderation who speaks Latvian, one who speaks Dutch, and two who speak Italian. Moreover, Meta already puts a lot of resources into regulating political advertising and (anecdotally speaking) a significant number of political ads slip through the net.
Progressives should focus more on other social media.
Okay, if you have a good following on Instagram or Facebook then stay there. “Maintain a presence; it’s necessary” to quote Max. But we also need to look elsewhere.
The far-right is winning the battle for TikTok. The platform is used by close to half of the population in some EU countries and, crucially, the average user spends a lot longer on the platform than the average user of other social media platforms.
LinkedIn is used less but has its own advantages. To quote Max, “it cannot be used for dirty campaigning”. While TikTok’s algorithm favours accounts that churn out huge volumes of often low quality content, LinkedIn’s algorithm encourages even populist politicians to post higher quality content. “If you check Sunak or Meloni”, Max says, “you will find something really valuable and enjoyable to read.” (He knows this thanks to his academic research on political communication, in case you’re concerned.)
More niche platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, Grindr and Tinder all offer something different for those willing to get creative, as pointed out by Max. Let’s not even talk about Twitter.
But the more fundamental point is that we need to rethink social media as a whole.
They change their policies. They change their algorithms. They shadow ban your content. They ban your account. And all of this power can be bought by right-wing billionaires on an ego trip.
Even in the best case, engagement on social media is notoriously shallow.
Of course, the draw of social media is that it takes relatively low effort to reach high numbers of people. But with increasing fragmentation between different social media sites being coupled with the growth of hyper trend-based TikTok, the capacity required to do social media is going up at the same time as its reliability is going down.
Social media should be seen as a gateway to deeper engagement - both online and in-person
But if I make this any longer, I’ll get hate mail.
So in my next newsletter, I will lay out the digital revolution that I think European progressives need to make happen and how you can help - whether you’re a professional or an activist.
Speak to you then,
Sean
Massimo Rattuno is an election consultant and specialist in AI for communication.
Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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