German companies criticize Facebook and Instagram for scaling back content moderation and ending fact-checking in the US, but most won’t leave the platforms for now.
According to a survey by the German newspaper “Handelsblatt” among 60 companies, including those that spend a lot on advertising and the 40 Dax corporations, the companies see the developments critically.
BASF said, “We see that very critically. Declaring the spreading of partly targeted false information as free of opinion, we consider to be wrong.”
Aldi Süd stated, “Facts checkers play an important role for the quality of information on social media.”
Eon emphasized the platforms’ responsibility, saying, “Desinformation and untruths can threaten social cohesion.”
MTU also sees the announcement critically, “as disinformation and untruths can threaten social cohesion.”
Companies like Continental, Kaufland, Eon, or MTU said they will continue to manage their pages for now. Siemens also plans to continue advertising on the platform for the time being.
40 companies, the majority of the respondents, did not comment or did not provide specific answers. Most of the responding companies want to wait and review further steps because the current situation appears too unclear.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced the end of the cooperation with journalistic organizations for fact-checking and relaxed moderation of content, which previously fell under the guidelines for “hateful behavior.”
Homosexual and transgender people can now be stigmatized on the basis of their sexual orientation or identity, for instance.
Meta has a significant market power in the advertising business, with German companies expected to spend around 4.8 billion euros on Meta platforms this year, making Meta more important than TV and print advertising combined, which is expected to generate 3.7 billion euros in revenue.