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Facebook and Instagram<\/span> parent company Meta changed its speech rules to add new restrictions around posts including the word \u201cantifa,\u201d according to documents reviewed by The Intercept.<\/p>\n This spring, Meta quietly revised its Community Standards policy, an internal company document dictating what its billions of global users can and cannot say online. The latest tweaks can be found in a chapter on \u201cViolence and Incitement,\u201d where a subsection titled \u201cOther Violence\u201d spells out, among other rules, the company\u2019s bans on ads for assassins<\/a>. It\u2019s in this subsection where Meta last month published a revision to include new limitations for users who mention antifascism.<\/p>\n Policy documents reviewed by The Intercept show the company now treats any \u201cContent that includes the word \u2018antifa\u2019 as a potential rules violation if that word appears along with what Meta deems a \u201ccontent-level threat signal\u201d \u2014 meaning a statement that the company believes implies violence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In some cases, the content that Meta considers a threat signal is commonsensical. If, for instance, a user mentions bringing a weapon to an event, the company flags it as a threat signal. But in other cases, Meta\u2019s process for identifying threat signals is more vague. Under the new rules, Meta might trigger a threat signal when a user posts a \u201cvisual depiction of a weapon,\u201d a \u201creference to arson, theft, or vandalism,\u201d or \u201cmilitary language,\u201d if accompanied by the word \u201cantifa.\u201d<\/p>\n If \u201cantifa\u201d is mentioned in the context of \u201creferences to historical or recent incidents of violence\u201d \u2014 a category so sprawling that it includes \u201chistoric wars\u201d and \u201cbattles\u201d \u2014\u00a0 that post will also be penalized. Should Meta apply this rule as written, the company could, for instance, restrict posts comparing the antifascist nature of World War II to the contemporary antifa movement.<\/p>\n Potential penalties for violating Community Standards range from a full account ban to comments being hidden or suppressed.<\/p>\n The policy change follows years of Meta and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s pivot of political convenience toward President Donald Trump and his base. Following Trump\u2019s second electoral victory, Meta quickly changed its speech rules to allow for anti-transgender slurs and dehumanization of immigrants<\/a>, The Intercept previously reported, aligning the company with longtime MAGA culture war grievances.<\/p>\n Asked about the new restrictions on the word \u201cantifa,\u201d Meta spokesperson Erica Sackin pointed to a March transparency report<\/a> that noted the company would \u201cremove QAnon and Antifa content when combined with content-level threat signals.\u201d The report does not explain what those signals are. Meta did not respond when asked if the company had discussed its antifa speech rules with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Meta largely outsources the enforcement of its Community Standards rules to low-paid contractors<\/a> whose interpretation and application of the policies can vary. The company\u2019s automated, algorithmic content moderation systems are also famously glitchy. This combination can result in erratic censorship<\/a>, particularly when political ideology is classified as violent or terroristic<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n