– RSF urges Meta to scrap paid certification
The Californian giant’s new feature is a “dangerous tool” for access to information, warns the press freedom NGO.
No to the paid certification of Facebook and Instagram accounts, urges Reporters Without Borders on Tuesday, for whom this feature currently being tested creates “a two-speed regime” in access to information.
Meta, the American web giant that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, launched a new paid feature called “Meta Verified” in Australia and New Zealand on February 19.
Against a dozen dollars a month, the “creators” of social networks Facebook and Instagram will be able to obtain a small blue badge proving that their online identity corresponds to their marital status and gain visibility on the platform.
“Remove this dangerous tool”
Twitter, under the leadership of its new boss, billionaire Elon Musk, already launched a paid account authentication formula at the end of 2022.
Wind up once morest this type of device, the NGO for the defense of freedom of the press calls Meta “to withdraw this dangerous tool which establishes a two-speed regime on access to information online”.
“Presenting this new feature as a guarantee of reliability when it is only disguised is simply misleading and dangerous,” said Vincent Berthier, head of RSF’s Technologies office, quoted in the press release.
This tool “is aimed at emerging creators who do not yet have a large audience but who are trying to establish their presence on Instagram or Facebook”, reacted to AFP a spokesperson for Meta.
“Emerging Creators”
“We’re starting with a test so we can learn and evolve Meta Verified before expanding it,” continued Meta, saying it welcomes and encourages feedback on this new feature.
“Access to information is not a market, it’s a right,” says Reporters Without Borders, recommending the establishment of rules to regulate this type of functionality. Among these, proscribe the use of terms “such as + certification + which suggests that there are guarantees of authenticity or reliability”.
“Any paid promotion of content must be presented distinctly as such” by being accompanied by a mandatory statement such as ” ” or “paid promotion”, suggests RSF.
Finally, according to the NGO, “the functioning of algorithms must integrate the promotion of the reliability of information and reject any market logic”.
AFP
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