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Vibe Shifts

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Written by Brook Schaaf


Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) announced far-reaching policy changes last week: starting in the United States, tens of thousands of fact-checkers have been let go in favor of an X-style community notes system; restrictive discourse rules around culturally sensitive topics such as immigration and gender identity have been loosened or removed; and more political content may be shown in individual feeds (Meta is also reported to be ending its DEI initiatives).

On the Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg explained and defended these changes, basically throwing the Biden administration under the bus, saying staffers would “scream” and “curse” at Meta employees about posts related to COVID that they considered misinformation.

The changes were decried by the political and cultural left, with many fearing “a misinformation spike.” A collection of fact-checking organizations wrote an open letter warning of consequences. A former employee went so far as to tell the publication Platformer, “I really think this a precursor for genocide.”

The changes were met with a wary welcome by the political and cultural right, though many doubt his sincerity. Why did he do it? Some argue that he is returning to his libertarian roots, has had a sincere change of heart, or has become otherwise disaffected, whereas others cite this as an act of political opportunismcontritioncapitulation, or even extortion. Who knows? Perhaps it’s all of the above. Whatever the reason, it seems to me this will be very good for the Facebook properties and somewhat positive for affiliate marketing. 

It’s good for Facebook because censorship is effective (sorry). When implemented effectively, people change what they say and even how they speak. Of course, they also stop speaking, so one imagines the past policy contributed hugely to Facebook’s years-long decline. If people are free to speak, one imagines many will return to Facebook. Engagement on X soared after new owner Elon Musk eased up on speech controls. Community notes can’t but be good for Facebook because people want to get their two cents in. I think it will be hugely successful. 

I don’t buy the argument that this will hurt advertising. Facebook easily fended off an attempt some years ago called StopHate4Profit largely because it was hard for the boycott organizers to reach Facebook’s vast number of small advertisers, many of whom need this traffic. This is different than Twitter/X, which saw advertising plummet after Musk’s purchase from a relatively small consortium of large advertisers, who have been sued for collusion.

So, what about affiliates in this context? Facebook doesn’t have quite the same embrace that, say, YouTube does, and Instagram shut down its pseudo-affiliate program years ago (pseudo because it referred traffic only to Instagram’s ill-fated on-site shopping). Last month, Facebook explicitly announced, “We’re testing new ways to make it easier for your audience to support you when they shop the products you recommend in your content. Affiliate links will now be more prominently displayed directly on your reels, videos, photos, and text posts to help encourage more of your followers to purchase products through your unique link.” It is positive to perceive the platform-plus-partner pairing progress.

If nothing else, it got me to log back into Facebook.

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