Facebook's new crackdown cleans your feed of AI spam
What's the story
Facebook has announced a new strategy to fight spammy content on its platform by reducing the reach of accounts sharing such material.
The social media giant also plans to make these accounts ineligible for monetization.
The move is part of Meta's broader initiative to remove fake engagement and impersonation from Facebook, the company said.
Metaverse shift
Step toward 'OG Facebook'
The announcement is in line with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision of going back to "OG Facebook."
The strategy is to recreate an environment where users' feeds are filled with real content from real people.
The move also comes amid increasing concerns over AI-generated spam on different social media platforms, including Facebook.
While the company's announcement didn't specifically mention AI-generated spam, it is a reasonable assumption that the crackdown will address this issue, given growing concerns over AI slop.
Spam detection
Meta's strategy to identify spammy behavior
Meta has also admitted that some accounts on its platform try to game the algorithm for more views or unfair monetization benefits.
This is what often results in a flood of spammy content in users' feeds.
To address this, Meta intends to focus on accounts showing certain kinds of spammy behavior, like those posting content with overly long captions or irrelevant hashtags.
Engagement reduction
Facebook's approach to fake engagement
Along with targeting spammy behavior, Facebook also plans to limit the reach and visibility of comments flagged as fake engagement.
The company will launch a new option to flag irrelevant comments or those that don't fit in the context of a conversation.
Additionally, Facebook is enhancing its comment management tool to automatically hide comments from people using fake identities.
User experience
Facebook's renewed focus on user-centric content
The latest measures come just days after Facebook introduced a revamped "Friends" tab, which only shows updates from friends and nothing else.
Both this new feature and the crackdown on spammy content underline Facebook's focus on improving users' feeds.
The idea is to make sure that they see the content they actually want to see.