It’s not just about Trump, it’s about content moderation standards

Meta will be reinstating former president Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks with what the company calls “new guardrails” to deter repeat offenses. The following Cornell University experts are available to discuss the news.

Alexandra Cirone, assistant professor of government and expert on the spread of disinformation online, says Facebook is still struggling to contain extremism on its platforms.

Cirone says: “Currently Truth Social is a failing company, whose competitive advantage is exclusive access to Trump; Trump returning to Facebook would damage Truth Social even further. But access to Facebook also means access to its digital advertising network, which has far more reach than Truth Social. If Trump is launching a 2024 presidential bid, access to hundreds of millions of Facebook users during the campaign would be a distinct advantage and might be worth it – if Trump can avoid being suspended again.

“Nick Clegg claims that the ‘serious risk to public safety’ that led to Trump’s suspension after the January 6 insurrection has ‘sufficiently receded,’ and that the company has new guardrails in place. But we’ve seen time and time again, most recently with the Facebook Files, that Facebook is struggling to contain extremism on its platforms or develop consistent standards for content moderation.”

For interviews contact Becka Bowyer, cell: (607) 220-4185, rpb224@cornell.edu.