Some users are avoiding Meta’s platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, after the corporation and its policies were changed to the right ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, following a series of announcements made by the firm’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
The firm announced that it would reduce its content moderation efforts in the area of political debate and terminated its third-party fact-checking program in the United States as part of the flurry of adjustments that have been implemented in recent weeks. Rather, Meta will employ a system of community notes that is akin to Elon Musk’s X. LGBTQ individuals can now be labeled mentally sick due to their identities, according to updates to Meta’s policy against offensive conduct. Additionally, Meta dissolved its team dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
There are other Big Tech billionaires who are gaining favor with the incoming administration besides Zuckerberg. At Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Musk and Jeff Bezos will both be seated in prominent positions. However, Meta’s modifications and Zuckerberg’s private pleas to Trump have triggered a series of responses from its users.
In response to the changes, hundreds of postings and comments on several social networking platforms were examined by NBC News, indicating that people would either cease posting, delete their Meta accounts, or boycott the firm. The exodus is similar to the mass departure of X (previously Twitter) members following the 2024 election.
Marie Valencia, a full-time artist with over 20,000 Facebook and Instagram followers before she stopped posting, stated, “As a queer Chicana woman, I no longer feel safe to post on either platform.” American women of Mexican heritage are referred to as Chicanas. I’ve also noticed a growing number of people deleting their profiles, particularly in the past few weeks as Meta has removed speech and DEI safeguards for the most vulnerable people on the internet.
Valencia now posts on Amigahood, a forum for Latina women, and Bluesky, an alternative to X. Valencia declared that Meta would turn into another X.
The director of Academy Award winner American Fiction, Cord Jefferson, declared on Sunday that he would no longer be using Instagram but would continue to be active on Tumblr.
Every day, a lot of things get more depressing and repulsive. Jefferson remarked on Instagram that although we cannot hold tech oligarchs responsible for everything, we can hold them accountable for a large portion of it. I’m making every effort to remove the increasingly foolish concepts that influence online environments like this from my life.
While some users are still using certain of Meta’s platforms, others have stopped using others. Mark Lemley, a law professor at Stanford University who is representing Meta in an artificial intelligence copyright case, declared on Monday that he would no longer be using Meta’s platforms and would be terminating his client relationship with the company.
Lemley commented, “I’ve been unsure of how to react to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s slide into toxic masculinity and Neo-Nazi madness.” Even though I’ve considered leaving Facebook, I appreciate the relationships and friends I’ve made there, so it doesn’t seem right that I should lose them because of Zuckerberg’s midlife crisis.
Lemley stated that he will no longer purchase anything from advertisements he sees on Facebook or Instagram and that he has disabled his account on Threads, Meta’s X substitute. Rather, he stated that he would visit the website independently to ensure Facebook would not receive any credit for the purchase.
The departing users still represent a tiny portion of Meta’s user base. Nearly two out of every three Americans use Facebook. In the United States, there are about 100 million WhatsApp accounts and 170 million Instagram accounts. A Facebook group with several hundred potential members was created in anticipation of a week-long Lights Out boycott of Meta platforms that began on January 19.
Some users claim that because they use Meta platforms, particularly WhatsApp, to connect with friends, family, and personal networks, they feel imprisoned there. Others have created platforms for groups, small enterprises, or as influencers.
After the policy on hateful conduct was changed to permit calling LGBTQ people mentally ill, Stacy Kess, founder of the nonprofit news organization Equal Access Public Media, told NBC News that she was discouraged to see other members of the disability community and organizations continue to post on Meta platforms.
“I was wondering how many of the people who were still posting on Instagram were aware of the policy change,” Kess remarked. For the LGBTQ community as well as those with disabilities, that ought to be a difficult line.
Equal Access Public Media, which has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, released remarks on Tuesday over the policy change, stating that it opposes the use of ableist and degrading terminology. We’ll keep posting in other places. Bluesky has the largest following for the group, which is gathering money to provide accessible news products in simplified English, American Sign Language, audio, and video.
“We feel like we’re just living our values by saying, ‘This is not OK,’ rather than adopting a moral absolutism kind of stance,” Kess added. Since we are aware that there are other solutions, we will keep looking into them.