Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) is looking to make it easier for its users to get support or help when their accounts or posts are removed. This is a big change in the company's 18-year history as it's typically eschewed such efforts.
And, many users have routinely complained about their accounts being hacked or being unable to log into them. It also seems to amount to a new shift towards Facebook which is looking to compete with Tiktok and making efforts to be more user-friendly. Another piece of evidence supporting this was CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg's interview with Joe Rogan, where he spoke openly about the challenges and difficulties of managing these types of products with billions of users, where small decisions can have massive consequences.
According to Bloomberg, Brent Harris, Meta's VP of governance, the company is prioritizing customer service and creating two-way channels between the company and users about moderation decisions.
Last year, the company introduced a pilot program that had a live chat customer support that allowed users to interact with Meta employees if they got locked out of their accounts or couldn't access certain features. According to the company, it was the first time that it had offered live help for people locked out of their accounts.
The move seems to stem from its Oversight Board, which is an independent body set up to monitor and over Meta's moderating decisions. In a short time, the Oversight Board had received nearly a million appeals or inquiries about content moderation decisions.
These efforts also align with CEO Zuckerberg's recent missives to the company, basically outlining that Meta was at an important juncture. The company is looking to reduce headcount and limit the number of perks it offers employees. After spending aggressively on its metaverse plans, the company is now facing a dire future where it's losing market share to Tiktok, advertising on its platform is less effective due to Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) privacy changes, and the market environment has shifted to rewarding companies who are generating free cash flow over those with lofty growth ambitions.