The reduction of safety guardrails intended to protect women, other sexual and gender minorities, and immigrants, among others, may result in less efficient removal of content targeting these groups on Meta-owned platforms, says the United Nations in Sri Lanka.

Harmful speech in Sri Lanka increased 113 per cent in November 2024, coinciding with the Sri Lankan parliamentary election held on November 14, according to the United Nations offices in Sri Lanka. This increase was primarily driven by a 159 per cent surge in gender-based harmful speech.

According to the United Nations in Sri Lanka, over 35 per cent of all gender-based harmful speech recorded in November was targeted at women candidates campaigning for the parliamentary elections. In December, after the elections concluded, harmful speech decreased by 35 per cent. However, gender-based harmful speech increased as a percentage against the total harmful content recorded, accounting for 66 per cent of all harmful content recorded in December 2024, up from 55 per cent in November.

The UN in Sri Lanka also reported an eight-fold rise in hate speech targeting ethnic and/or religious minorities following the declaration of results of the presidential election in September 2024. “Through collaboration with tech companies and active efforts of local organizations, targeted online campaigns against minorities have decreased since 2021 — an encouraging trend,” UN Sri Lanka said. “However, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim and anti-Hindu sentiments persist alongside harmful speech targeting women, especially those occupying public functions or those speaking up publicly.”

In the first eight months of 2024, there was a decline in harmful speech overall (year-on-year) of 32 percent, the UN in Sri Lanka reported. However, the increase in harmful speech in November and December is a worrying trend, especially the surge in gender-based harmful speech.

Meta Content Moderation Policy

The UN in Sri Lanka has raised concerns about the recent changes to social media policies that may impact online safety. In early January 2025, Meta (the parent company of Facebook) announced it was ending its third-party fact-checking program in the United States and also announced several major changes to content (moderation) policy, including changes to its:

• Policy on hate speech, now called “Hateful Conduct”: This will allow some speech that was previously prohibited and removes some protections on topics such as immigration and gender.
• Automated systems: Meta will now focus on tackling illegal and high-severity content — such as terrorism, drugs, child exploitation, and frauds & scams — and will rely more on user reporting for other policy violations.
• Approach to political content: Meta will channel political content to users based on personalized signals, making it easier for people who want to see a particular type of content in their feeds to do so.

Fact-Checking, Content Moderation

The implications of these changes to content monitoring and reporting in Sri Lanka are as yet unclear. However, the reduction of safety guardrails intended to protect women, other sexual and gender minorities, and immigrants, among others, may result in less efficient removal of content targeting these groups on Meta-owned platforms.

The UN in Sri Lanka has called on social media platforms to take steps to address the issue of harmful speech. “We urge social media platforms to do more to address the issue of harmful speech,” said a spokesperson for the UN in Sri Lanka. “This includes investing in fact-checking and content moderation, and developing policies that protect vulnerable groups.”

The UN in Sri Lanka has also called on the government to take action to address the issue of harmful speech. “We urge the government to take steps to address the issue of harmful speech,” said a spokesperson for the UN in Sri Lanka. “This includes enacting legislation that criminalizes hate speech and providing education and awareness-raising programs.”

The UN in Sri Lanka says that is committed to working with all stakeholders to address the issue of harmful speech. “We believe that everyone has a role to play in addressing the issue of harmful speech,” said a spokesperson for the UN in Sri Lanka. “We encourage everyone to be vigilant and to report any instances of harmful speech that they see online.”