Meta laid off staff on disinformation teams responsible for election safety, report says

• Meta made cuts to teams responsible for combatting political disinformation, CNN reported.
• People who helped tackle such campaigns in the 2022 midterms were reportedly laid off in the fall and spring.
• It raises concerns ahead of the 2024 elections, especially with the potential for AI disinformation.

Meta laid off some staff members on teams that were responsible for combatting election disinformation and troll or harassment campaigns, CNN reported.

Several people who helped tackle disinformation campaigns during last year’s midterm elections were laid off last fall and spring, per CNN.

In two rounds of layoffs, the Facebook and Instagram owner cut around 21,000 jobs – or 24% of the peak 87,000 staff it had in 2022. 

That began with 11,000 in November, with Mark Zuckerberg acknowledging he’d mistimed a “decision to significantly increase our investments.”

Then a further 10,000 layoffs were announced in March, as part of Meta’s so-called “Year of Efficiency.” 

Some Meta staff were left making up their own tasks or avoiding work as the layoffs left them in limbo, according to Bloomberg. And Reuters reported on staff criticizing Zuckerberg in an internal forum, saying he’s “shattered the morale and confidence in leadership.”

But CNN’s report spells concern ahead of the 2024 US elections. Meta is particularly important to political debates, with 69% of US adults using Facebook, according to a 2021 survey from the Pew Research Center.

In 2020, one Facebook employee wrote a scathing memo accusing the company of failing to stop political manipulation and election interference around the world. 

And according to the book “An Ugly Truth,” when Zuckerberg learned of Russian interference in the 2016 election, he said: “Oh f—, how did we miss this?”

In a statement to CNN, Meta said: “Protecting the US 2024 elections is one of our top priorities, and our integrity efforts continue to lead the industry.”

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

The upcoming election could be more vulnerable to misinformation thanks to the rise of AI and deepfakes. 

For example, we’ve already seen Donald Trump making fun of Ron DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces conundrum by posting a parody video using voice-cloning AI. 

That case was obviously a mocking parody, but it showed how convincing the technology can be — and ultimately, how it could be deployed for more nefarious purposes.