Meta rolls out new AI content enforcement systems while reducing reliance on third-party vendors

Meta on Thursday announced that it will begin rolling out more advanced AI systems to handle content enforcement as it plans to cut back on third-party vendors. Content enforcement tasks include intercepting and removing content related to terrorism, child exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams.

The company says it will deploy these more advanced AI systems in its apps once they consistently outperform current content enforcement methods. At the same time, it will reduce its dependence on third-party providers for content enforcement.

“While we will still have people reviewing content, these systems will be able to take over work that is better suited to the technology, such as repeated reviews of graphic content or areas where adversaries are constantly changing their tactics, such as in illegal drug sales or scams,” Meta explained in a blog post.

Meta believes these AI systems can detect more violations with greater accuracy, better prevent scams, respond more quickly to real-world events, and reduce overenforcement.

The company says early tests of the AI ​​systems are promising as they can detect twice as much adult sexual solicitation content as the review teams, while also reducing the error rate by more than 60%. It also says the systems can identify and prevent more impersonation accounts involving celebrities and other high-profile individuals, and help stop account takeovers by detecting signals such as logins from new locations, password changes or changes to a profile.

Additionally, Meta says its systems can identify and mitigate approximately 5,000 scams per day, where scammers try to trick people into giving away their login credentials.

“Experts will design, train, oversee and evaluate our AI systems, measuring performance and making the most complex, high-impact decisions,” Meta wrote in the blog post. “For example, people will continue to play a key role in how we make the highest risk and most critical decisions, such as account disable appeals or notifications to law enforcement.”

The move comes as Meta relaxed its content moderation rules over the past year, as President Donald Trump took office for the second time. Last year, the company discontinued its third-party fact-checking program in favor of an X-like Community Notes model. It also lifted restrictions around “topics that are part of mainstream discourse” and said users would be encouraged to take a “personalized” approach to political content.

It also comes as Meta and other Big Tech companies are currently facing multiple lawsuits want to hold social media giants accountable for harming children and young users.

Meta also announced Thursday that it is launching a Meta AI support assistant that will give users access to 24/7 support. The assistant is rolling out globally to the Facebook and Instagram apps for iOS and Android, and within the Help Center on Facebook and Instagram on desktop.