Meta’s Censorship Announcement: How It Impacts Wellness Creators on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and WhatsApp

What Meta is Changing:

• Meta is shifting from a more aggressive content moderation policy to a more speech-inclusive approach.

• Less proactive content removal but a focus on reducing harmful and violating content.

• They aim to foster a more open, speech-driven environment with fewer restrictions on controversial or edge-case content.

Why This Matters for Wellness Creators:

• Wellness creators often share personal, health-related content that may touch on controversial or misunderstood topics (e.g., alternative medicine, mental health practices).

• How these changes could lead to more freedom in the content wellness creators produce but also the need to stay mindful of new boundaries and avoid inadvertently violating the platform’s rules.

Impacts on Content Creation for Wellness Creators

Positive Implications:

• Increased Freedom of Expression: Wellness creators can speak more freely about personal experiences, health advice, and alternative wellness practices without fearing automatic takedowns, especially for less mainstream or unconventional topics.

• Potential for More Honest Conversations: With less concern for moderation, creators may feel emboldened to share authentic, vulnerable, or even controversial content (e.g., discussing mental health struggles, alternative medicine that challenges mainstream practices).

• Increased Reach for Niche Wellness Topics: Creators covering niche wellness content, such as holistic healing or non-traditional fitness approaches, might now find more organic reach without being penalized for controversial but educational content.
  
  Challenges & Potential Risks:
  

• Greater Scrutiny on Harmful Content: While Meta is reducing proactive content takedowns, the platform will still remove content if it is deemed to be harmful (e.g., spreading misinformation, hate speech, or anything deemed dangerous to public health). Wellness creators will need to be cautious with advice or claims that might trigger scrutiny, like unverified health benefits or miracle cures.

• Balancing Authenticity and Safety: Wellness creators will need to find a balance between expressing their unique perspectives and ensuring their content doesn't cross the line into misinformation. The line between freedom of speech and harmful content could blur, and creators must understand where that line is for their specific niche.

Instagram Strategy Adjustments for Wellness Creators

Updated Content Creation Tips:

• Transparency and Accountability: Creators should be more transparent about where they source their wellness advice, especially for unconventional methods. This increases trust and helps avoid backlash over misinformation.

• Staying Informed: Wellness creators must stay up-to-date with Meta’s specific content guidelines and potential updates as the platform pivots towards speech freedom. This will prevent accidental violations that could lead to shadow-banning or other penalties.

• Avoiding Harmful Claims: Meta's moderation focuses on harmful content, so creators should avoid making unverified claims or promoting practices that could be considered dangerous (e.g., unsupported weight-loss claims, or unproven medical treatments). Even with increased speech freedom, creators must prioritize integrity.

• Navigating Gray Areas: With fewer takedowns, creators will need to be even more strategic in handling controversial topics. What one person considers empowering may be seen as harmful by another. Wellness creators should carefully navigate these nuances, particularly in sensitive topics such as mental health, body image, and alternative medicine.

  Hashtags, Keywords, and Algorithm Considerations:

• Meta’s algorithm might also change in response to the new policy, meaning creators should be mindful of how their posts are tagged or the language they use in captions. While content might not be removed outright, algorithmic visibility can still be impacted by topics deemed to violate platform rules.

• Wellness creators should research which keywords or hashtags are now trending or could be flagged in the new policy to avoid unnecessary removal of content.

Future Trends and Adaptation

Predicting the Future of Content Moderation in Wellness:

• Meta is experimenting with new moderation models, which could eventually include more decentralized or community-driven guidelines. Creators should prepare for more collaborative content moderation, where users could have a say in what content stays visible or gets flagged.

• Wellness creators may also start seeing new ways to directly interact with their community on Instagram (e.g., more transparency in comments or more robust tools for managing community content).

  Diversifying Platforms:

• As Meta shifts toward more lenient content moderation, it may prompt creators to reconsider their platforms. Wellness creators should think about diversifying their audience base across multiple platforms (TikTok, YouTube, etc.) to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket, especially if Meta changes course again in the future.
  
  
  RESOURCES:
  
  Read Meta’s full announcement here.