Meta bosses grilled over decision to cut ‘censorship’ that has potentially unleashed more antisemitic content

‘Over-enforcement poses significant risk to the communities that we try to protect,’ royal commission told

A decision aimed at reducing “censorship” on major social media sites including Facebook and Instagram potentially led to greater levels of hate speech, the royal commission into antisemitism has heard.

Meta announced in January 2025, after the re-election of Donald Trump in the US, that it would “reduce censorship”, get rid of factcheckers and only tackle illegal and very serious violations proactively, relying on users to report less serious breaches. Its platforms include Facebook, Instagram and Threads.