China

Meta to Add Labels for State-Run Media Outlets

JUL 11 2023·Updated JUL 12 2023

Story

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Facts

Facebook parent Meta's head of public policy for Australia, Josh Machin, on Tuesday told an Australian Senate inquiry on foreign interference that the social media company plans to label government-affiliated accounts on its new Twitter competitor, Threads.
Reuters
This comes as he was asked if state-affiliated media RT and Xinhua News Agency, respectively linked to Russia and China, would be tagged on Threads as its rival microblogging platform has removed such labels since Elon Musk took it private last year.
Reuters
Facebook and Instagram already have tags on the RT and Xinhua accounts, but RT's account on Threads lacked such a label as of Tuesday, while Xinhua apparently didn't have an account on the Twitter-like platform.
Al Jazeera
Threads, which launched last week, reportedly doesn’t yet have the capacity to tag these accounts, but Machin said that type of functionality and other ways to provide context for posts are “top priorities.”
1 News
Machin’s testimony comes days after Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri stated that Threads won’t encourage “politics and hard news” on the platform, claiming that risks and scrutiny outweigh any incremental engagement or revenue.
Forbes
The Australian Senate inquiry on Tuesday asked Meta, Google, TikTok, and Twitter how they are addressing the alleged threat to the country's democracy posed by foreign interference on social media. Lawmakers are due to present a final report by August 1.
VOA

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Right narrative

Threads is going to be another social media platform, just like Meta’s Instagram, that censors its political enemies under the guise of labeling and fact-checking. Any users who care about First Amendment rights will stick to Twitter and avoid being censored by liberal social media overlords.

The Washington Examiner

Left narrative

Threads isn’t going on a censorship campaign; it’s labeling and fact-checking posts to prevent the spread of misinformation and provide a safe social media environment for people to engage with each other. Meta is committed to being nonpartisan as long as users adhere to the terms of service.

Analytics Insight