UNESCO official urges transparency, public risk assessments and broader consultation after Meta moderation changes

A UNESCO official said recent changes announced by Meta to its content-moderation policy lack sufficient transparency, publicly available risk assessments and meaningful stakeholder consultation, and urged companies to assess such moves using UNESCO’s governance framework for digital platforms.

The official said those three elements — transparency, risk assessment and broad stakeholder engagement — are necessary for audiences, the United Nations, governments and civil society to “comprehend and understand and evaluate” major platform changes.

The UNESCO official framed the concerns as matters of human-rights protection. “Freedom of expression is what is there in the article 19 of the Universal Declaration and is defined by 3 verbs, the right to impart information, ideas, but also the right to seek and receive,” the official said, arguing that debates generated by platform policy changes can help protect that right.

On specifics, the official listed three tests firms should meet before—or at least alongside—public announcements: first, whether the change is “transparent enough”; second, whether companies have produced and made public a risk assessment addressing potential impacts on human rights; and third, whether the platforms consulted their own users and other stakeholders. “In our view, we don't have enough information yet because these 3 things in our view, they are missing, or at least they are missing in what was made public,” the official said.

The official also defended the role of fact-checkers in promoting verified discussion on platforms, saying fact-checking contributes to more informed expression rather than limiting it. The official recommended that companies “not, shutting down particular policies, but adding new policies so that we can have a more comprehensive system” whose key goal is “the protection and promotion of all human rights for everyone and particularly for those that are more vulnerable.”

The remarks followed a question referencing a recent announcement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about changes to the company's content-moderation approach. The UNESCO official did not provide a detailed independent risk assessment but called for companies to publish theirs and to broaden consultation with outside organizations and users.

Observers and platform users will likely watch whether Meta or other companies release public impact assessments and a record of stakeholder engagement; the UNESCO official emphasized those disclosures as the basis for public and institutional evaluation of platform policy shifts.