The discursive function of Meta’s Newsroom: How Meta frames the problem of problematic online content

This article examines the social technology company Meta’s public communication on problematic content, via their official ‘Meta Newsroom’, within the context of growing regulatory scrutiny. For nearly a decade, the Meta Newsroom has been a major outlet for Meta company announcements, and since 2016, the Newsroom has increasingly become a key source for company responses to concerns regarding mis/disinformation and other kinds of problematic content on Meta’s platforms. Using a mixed-methods approach informed by discourse analysis, this article critically examines Newsrooms posts from 2016 to early 2021. It asks: how is Meta framing ‘problems’ on its platforms? How is Meta identifying ‘solutions’ to those problems? And is Meta ‘nudging’ policymakers in specific conceptual directions? Overall, we find that Meta is framing content moderation issues through four key frames – ‘authenticity’, ‘political advertising’, ‘technological solutions’, and ‘enforcement’ – that benefit Meta, as they shift responsibility while also demonstrating that Meta is an active and capable problem-solver.