Meta Changes the Rules: Are Your Earnings At Risk?

Meta has announced two strict measures to crack down on unoriginal content. Accounts that are found to be posting this type of content could face:

1. Suspended monetization for a period of time
2. Reduced visibility for all content posted on the account

The combative measures have come as part of Meta’s long-term strategy to reduce spam content, which has already seen 500,000 spam accounts and 10 million impersonation accounts heavily penalized.

Meta explains that, when the same content pops up on users’ newsfeeds repeatedly, “it dulls the experience for all and makes it harder for fresh voices to break through.” While the new penalties will help this, they’re understandably worrying for the many businesses that make money on Instagram and Facebook.

It’s important to preface that most Meta users publishing original high quality content won’t be impacted. Similarly to YouTube’s crackdown on “inauthetic” videos, Meta aims to target accounts posting spam and duplicate content.

However, the line of originality is blurred on trend-driven platforms that encourage collaboration. Meta further clarified what it’s looking out for:

“We love it when creators reshare content, add commentary in a reaction video or join in on a trend, adding their unique take. What we want to combat is the repeated reposting of content from other creators without permission or meaningful enhancements.”

Essentially, as long as you input a unique take or add a creative twist to repurposed content, you should be fine. Still, since the penalties are so harsh, I recommend following Meta’s best practices going forward:

• Primarily post original images, videos, and text posts
• Any third party content should be approved for use and contain “meaningful enhancements,” such as stylistic editing, voiceovers, and intermittent commentary
• Incorporate authentic storytelling in your content wherever possible
• Don’t post content containing watermarks from other platforms. For instance, TikTok videos would likely be flagged
• Use captions and hashtags that are relevant to the content. Meta advises posting captions with no links, minimal use of capital letters, and a maximum of five hashtags

And with Facebook and Instagram following closely behind YouTube, I have no doubt that other social media platforms will put similar measures in place to reduce the amount of AI and spam content on their sites.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to apply these content best practices across every platform your business uses. Not only will this give your audience a better experience, but also raise the chance of your content being boosted by algorithms and help you continue making money on social media.