Meta will suppress your posts if you use the word “vote”
It’s less than three weeks until election day in the US, and Meta, the owner of three of the largest social networks on the planet, would rather you don’t talk politics.
In fact, just including the word “vote” in your posts on Facebook, Instagram or Threads might be enough to seriously suppress your posts from being seen by people who don’t follow you.
The Washington Post measured this effect by looking at a popular influencer’s Instagram data and found her average audience was 63% smaller in 11 posts that used the word.
Meta faced criticism when it was revealed that Instagram and Threads users would automatically see less recommended political content in their algorithmic feeds of users they do not follow unless they opted out of a new setting. Meta has been stepping back from wading into politics and playing an active role in elections.
In August, Zuckerberg wrote Rep. Jim Jordan and said he felt pressured by the Biden administration to more carefully moderate COVID-19 content to fight misinformation, but signaled the company wanted to avoid the swamp of politics altogether.
Zuckerberg also noted that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would no longer be donating money to help facilitate elections, like the $400 million it pledged in 2020.
Zuckerberg wrote, “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another - or to even appear to be playing a role.”
The Washington Post measured this effect by looking at a popular influencer’s Instagram data and found her average audience was 63% smaller in 11 posts that used the word.
Meta faced criticism when it was revealed that Instagram and Threads users would automatically see less recommended political content in their algorithmic feeds of users they do not follow unless they opted out of a new setting. Meta has been stepping back from wading into politics and playing an active role in elections.
In August, Zuckerberg wrote Rep. Jim Jordan and said he felt pressured by the Biden administration to more carefully moderate COVID-19 content to fight misinformation, but signaled the company wanted to avoid the swamp of politics altogether.
Zuckerberg also noted that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would no longer be donating money to help facilitate elections, like the $400 million it pledged in 2020.
Zuckerberg wrote, “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another - or to even appear to be playing a role.”
