Volker Türk the UN’s human rights person spoke out about Meta ending its fact-checking program in the US He used social media platform X and a longer post on LinkedIn to share his thoughts His big concern is that without fact-checking hate speech and other bad stuff online could cause real problems in the world. He thinks social media companies have a duty to control what’s posted and says that’s not the same as censorship.
Türk believes letting hateful and divisive content spread without rules is risky He says this kind of content leads to bad things happening offline and it’s important to have rules for social media platforms. This all came about because Meta decided to stop their fact-checking work which could mean more people see untrue things and hate speech. The UN official is connecting Meta’s decision to how much power and influence it has in society.
The UN is basically saying social media companies like Meta need to be responsible for what’s on their sites. They are not trying to stop people from speaking freely but want to stop hurtful and hateful content that can cause harm. Türk’s reaction shows that the UN is serious about protecting human rights online and holding companies responsible for how they affect society.