Labelling, shadow bans and community resistance: did meta's strategy to suppress rather than remove COVID misinformation and conspiracy theory on Facebook slow the spread?

Johns, A; Bailo, F; Booth, E; Rizoiu, MA

Labelling, shadow bans and community resistance: did meta's strategy to suppress rather than remove COVID misinformation and conspiracy theory on Facebook slow the spread?

Johns, A

Bailo, F

Booth, E

Rizoiu, MA

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Publisher:: SAGE Publications
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Media International Australia, 2024
Issue Date:: 2024-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Johns, A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3946-7869
dc.contributor.author	Bailo, F https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5971-1921
dc.contributor.author	Booth, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8154-6747
dc.contributor.author	Rizoiu, MA
dc.date.accessioned	2024-03-26T20:21:34Z
dc.date.available	2024-03-26T20:21:34Z
dc.date.issued	2024-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Media International Australia, 2024
dc.identifier.issn	1329-878X
dc.identifier.issn	2200-467X
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/177194
dc.description.abstract	In this paper, we ask how effective Meta's content moderation strategy was on its flagship platform, Facebook, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the performance of 18 Australian right-wing/anti-vaccination pages, posts and commenting sections collected between January 2019 and July 2021, and use engagement metrics and time series analysis to analyse the data, mapping key policy announcements against page performance. We combine this with content analysis of comments parsed from two public pages that overperformed in the time period. The results show that Meta's content moderation systems were partially effective, with previously high-performing pages showing steady decline. Nonetheless, some pages not only slipped through the net but overperformed, proving this strategy to be piecemeal and inconsistent. The analysis identifies trends that content labelling and ‘shadow banning’ accounts was resisted by these communities, who employed tactics to stay engaged on Facebook, while migrating some conversations to less moderated platforms.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	SAGE Publications
dc.relation.ispartof	Media International Australia
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/1329878X241236984
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	16 Studies in Human Society, 19 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing, 20 Language, Communication and Culture
dc.subject.classification	3605 Screen and digital media
dc.subject.classification	4701 Communication and media studies
dc.title	Labelling, shadow bans and community resistance: did meta's strategy to suppress rather than remove COVID misinformation and conspiracy theory on Facebook slow the spread?
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society
utslib.for	19 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing
utslib.for	20 Language, Communication and Culture
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Digital and Social Media
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2024-03-26T20:21:32Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

In this paper, we ask how effective Meta's content moderation strategy was on its flagship platform, Facebook, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the performance of 18 Australian right-wing/anti-vaccination pages, posts and commenting sections collected between January 2019 and July 2021, and use engagement metrics and time series analysis to analyse the data, mapping key policy announcements against page performance. We combine this with content analysis of comments parsed from two public pages that overperformed in the time period. The results show that Meta's content moderation systems were partially effective, with previously high-performing pages showing steady decline. Nonetheless, some pages not only slipped through the net but overperformed, proving this strategy to be piecemeal and inconsistent. The analysis identifies trends that content labelling and ‘shadow banning’ accounts was resisted by these communities, who employed tactics to stay engaged on Facebook, while migrating some conversations to less moderated platforms.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/177194