The New Normal? Disinformation and Content Control on Social Media during COVID-19

Abstract

This document addresses the measures that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube implemented to address problematic content related to COVID-19 on their platforms. Known mainly as community guidelines, these rules are the basis for the moderation actions carried out by these services on user content. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the impact that COVID-19 had on community guidelines.

First, we describe what the status of the relevant regulations was before the pandemic. Second, we explain the changes these platforms made for organic con tent. Third, we address the public interest exception, which protects posts even if they violate community standards. Fourth, we describe some measures related to the content advertised on these services. Finally, we offer some conclusions.

This is not an exhaustive analysis on the subject, nor does it cover all the modifications that may have taken place in this matter. In fact, one of the problems identified throughout this research is the difficulty in understanding where they are, how they change, and how the community rules of social media are imple mented. On the other hand, this document does not include topics such as deep fakes, manipulated multimedia content, or influence operations.

The study had a cutoff date of December 31, 2020, and made use of the monitor ing of community guidelines carried out by CELE and Linterna Verde through the Letra Chica project. Letra Chica tracks, explains and puts into context the changes to the community guidelines of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.The measures covered by the text are also summarized in tables included as annexes.

This document was finished when a historical event was taking place as several social media platforms sanctioned the accounts of the then president of the United States, Donald Trump. Specifically, Twitter suspended his account perma nently while Facebook sent that same decision for review by the oversight board that became operational last year. We should clarify, then, that this situation is not included in this text. However, the COVID-19 crisis coincided with the pres idential campaign in the United States, and to that extent, some elements related to that debate are reflected in this study.