Meta has announced upcoming measures to limit the distribution of “unoriginal content” on Facebook, following a similar policy update from YouTube. This initiative aims to address the sharing of uncited or duplicated material by users, which can dilute the presence of original creators on the platform. The company indicated that accounts violating the new content standards will experience reduced visibility and restricted access to monetization options.
Meta’s Strategy to Tackle Unauthorized Content Reposting
This announcement was made in a statement released on Monday, where Meta declared it would take measures against unoriginal content. This includes any instance where users reshare or recreate content from other creators without proper attribution. The policy will encompass all forms of user-generated content on the platform, such as images, videos, and text posts. Users found to be consistently reposting unoriginal content will face temporary restrictions on their monetization capabilities.
Alongside financial penalties, Meta’s new guidelines will limit the visibility of posts published by those reposting content improperly. This approach aims to ensure that original creators’ work has a higher chance of appearing in users’ feeds, rather than seeing their content buried under duplicates.
Meta is also exploring features that will provide links to original creators when their content is posted without proper credit. Screenshots of this feature reveal that a link identifying the original creator will appear beneath the post’s caption, offering greater visibility to the original source.
To give creators time to adjust to these updated rules, Meta will roll out changes gradually over the next few months. The platform’s Professional Dashboard now offers insights into the various reasons that might limit a specific post’s reach.
This initiative follows closely on the heels of YouTube’s recent announcement regarding its fight against repetitive and mass-produced videos. On YouTube, material derived from other creators must undergo significant alterations, and low-effort content aimed solely at clickbait will also be restricted.
