What next for Meta? What the latest policy changes mean and how Arwen's keeping clients safe

Meta has announced significant updates to its content moderation approach, shifting to a 'more speech, fewer mistakes' policy. This change is part of a broader initiative to reduce content removals, loosen restrictions on borderline content, and reinstate previously removed political posts. While this move is being framed as a step toward transparency and free speech, it could raise significant challenges for brands operating on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.

What Are the Changes?

Essentially Meta are taking police off the streets of their social networks, and allowing more "lawful but awful" behaviour will be permitted, whether it be falsehood, abuse or personal attacks.

1. Termination of Third-Party Fact-Checking: Meta is ending its partnerships with independent fact-checkers, opting instead for a community-driven approach similar to X’s (formerly Twitter) “Community Notes.” This model allows users to add context to potentially misleading posts.

2. Relaxation of Content Moderation: The company plans to reduce the removal of borderline content, aiming to decrease instances of perceived censorship. This includes reinstating previously restricted political content and simplifying policies on sensitive topics.

3. Policy Revisions on Hateful Conduct: Meta has updated its hateful conduct policies, now permitting certain derogatory statements based on gender or sexual orientation under the guise of political or religious debate.

What Are the Potential Implications for Brands and Individuals?

While these changes aim to foster freedom and open discourse, historical evidence suggests they are likely to create significant vulnerabilities for brands trying to maintain a positive and professional presence on these platforms. Fewer visible police on the streets usually leads to an uptick of crime. Similarly, these policy shifts carry several potential risks for brands and individuals:

• Increased Misinformation: Without professional fact-checkers, the spread of false information may rise, relying on user-driven corrections that may lack expertise.
• Reputational Damage: Brands may find themselves inadvertently drawn into divisive conversations or political debates.
• Brand Safety Concerns: Brands may find their content appearing alongside harmful or misleading commentary, potentially damaging their reputation.
• Adverse Customer Experience: Unchecked misinformation or volatile discussions can erode trust and frustrate customers.
• Heightened Hate Speech: Relaxed policies could lead to an uptick in hate speech and discriminatory content, creating a hostile environment for users and brands alike.
• Engagement Challenges: As toxic or inflammatory comments become more common, managing and moderating user engagement will become more time-consuming and complex.
• Increased personal and physical vulnerability: Unfortunately, as debate grows more toxic and polarised, the physical world gets sucked into the vortex, with people and property threatened.

These challenges are not theoretical—they are very real, and their impact can quickly snowball without the right tools and strategies in place.

How Arwen is Responding

Meta have taken their police off the streets, but Arwen continues to provide intelligent social media moderation and protection services to our global clients. Our platform is designed to give brands the tools they need to stay safe, maintain meaningful engagement, and manage emerging risks effectively.

Here’s how we’re tackling Meta’s new landscape:

1. Always Improving Detection

We are always, continually updating our AI-powered detection and moderation systems, and will continue to do so as Meta's revised content thresholds emerge. Everything we do is focused on detecting and removing the most toxic "awful but lawful" content, across both paid and organic media. So Arwen customers can be assured that their brand remains protected even in this more permissive environment.

2. Customizable Filters

Every brand's risk tolerance is unique, which is why Arwen has always offered customizable filters that give clients control over what appears on their social channels. Whether they're targeting specific keywords, sentiments, or patterns of behavior, our platform ensures that toxic content is detected and removed efficiently. 

3. Insightful Reporting and Analytics

Understanding what’s happening in social media comment sections is crucial to navigating these changes. Our reporting tools provide clear visibility into emerging risks, recurring issues, and patterns of behavior, empowering clients to make data-informed decisions as they happen.

4. Strategic Guidance from Experts

Beyond technology, Arwen’s team of experts is on hand to guide clients through these changes. From strategy sessions to hands-on advice, we ensure clients are prepared to adapt and thrive in this evolving social media landscape.

5. Crisis management and threat protection

Clients have been sharing with us their fears that these Meta changes will create toxicity online that will seep into real world environments. We hope this never happens, but experience tell us that it sadly does. Our Protect service monitors for these threats and other risks 24/7, with our specialist investigation partners working with each client's in-house security teams to investigate and mitigate risks in real time. 

6. Regulatory input

We're already seeing responses from both EU and British online safety regulators. Both will be scrutinising these changes and, as part of the wider Trust and Safety industry, we will continue to feed into that dialogue. We've always been clear that technology like Arwen is only part of the solution to making social media more social.

What’s Next?

At Arwen, we're not only monitoring these developments closely but also adapting our platform and services to meet these challenges head-on. Our commitment is to help all our clients:

• Stay in Control: Manage their social spaces with confidence, so that everyone in their community can participate in trusted and safe environments.

• Protect Your Brand: Safeguard your reputation against harmful events and associations.

• Drive Meaningful Engagement: Create spaces where positive interactions thrive, which enable clients to develop profitable relationships.

Final Thoughts

Meta’s policy changes signal a shift that brands cannot ignore. While increased freedom of speech can be seen as a positive step, it also opens the door to significant risks. However, with the right tools, strategies, and expert support, these challenges can be managed effectively.

Arwen is here to ensure you’re not navigating this complex landscape alone. We’ll continue to evolve alongside these platforms, providing the support and technology you need to remain resilient and effective.

We've proved time and again that moderated social media leads to better engagement, across both paid and organic channels. On average our clients get a 21.3% boost in engagement, and moderated ad comments lead to 19% reductions in CAC.

Meta may choose to take police off the streets, but many brands remain committed to protecting their valued communities from harm. Arwen remains committed to helping them in this mission.

If you're a customer and have any questions or concerns about how these updates might impact your social strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch at support@arwen.ai

If you're looking for a solution like Arwen and want to discuss your options, contact us at info@arwen.ai