Meta Intensifies Efforts to Curb Unoriginal Content on Facebook

On Monday, Meta unveiled stricter measures to tackle accounts posting unoriginal content on Facebook, targeting those that repeatedly repurpose others’ text, images, or videos. The company reported removing approximately 10 million profiles this year for impersonating prominent content creators.

Additionally, Meta has addressed 500,000 accounts involved in spammy behavior or fake engagement, taking steps such as demoting comments and limiting content distribution to hinder monetization efforts.

This move comes shortly after YouTube updated its policies on unoriginal content, particularly mass-produced or repetitive videos, which have become easier to create with AI advancements.

Like YouTube, Meta emphasizes it won’t penalize users engaging with others’ content through reaction videos, trend participation, or adding original commentary. Instead, the focus is on accounts reposting others’ work, either via spam profiles or those posing as the original creator.

Accounts repeatedly reusing others’ content will face temporary suspension from Facebook’s monetization programs and reduced post visibility, Meta stated. When duplicate videos are detected, their distribution will be curtailed to prioritize views and credit for the original creator.

Meta is also experimenting with a feature that links duplicate videos to their original source, directing viewers to the authentic content.

This update comes amid user criticism across Meta’s platforms, including Instagram, over automated policy enforcement errors. A petition with nearly 30,000 signatures demands fixes for wrongfully disabled accounts and better human support, as small businesses suffer. Meta has yet to publicly respond despite media and creator attention.

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While Meta’s latest efforts target accounts profiting from stolen content, the issue of unoriginal material is escalating.

The rise of AI has flooded platforms with low-quality, AI-generated media, often called AI slop. On YouTube, for example, AI-narrated videos using repurposed photos or clips are common, fueled by text-to-video AI tools.

Although Meta’s update primarily addresses reused content, it hints at tackling AI slop. In guidance for creating original content, Meta advises against merely combining clips or adding watermarks to others’ work, urging creators to focus on authentic storytelling rather than low-value, short videos.

These low-quality videos, often just images or clips with AI narration, are increasingly produced using AI tools, though Meta doesn’t explicitly mention this.

Meta also cautions creators against repurposing content from other apps or sources, a longstanding rule, and stresses the importance of high-quality video captions, potentially discouraging unedited AI-generated captions.

Meta says these changes will be implemented gradually over the coming months, giving Facebook creators time to adapt. Creators can check post-level insights in the Professional Dashboard to understand distribution issues.

Creators can also monitor risks of content recommendation or monetization penalties via the Support home screen on their Page or professional profile’s main menu.

Meta typically details content takedowns in its quarterly Transparency Reports. Last quarter, it reported that 3% of Facebook’s global monthly active users were fake accounts, with action taken against 1 billion fake profiles from January to March 2025.

Recently, Meta has shifted from direct fact-checking to using Community Notes in the U.S., similar to X, allowing users and contributors to verify if posts align with Meta’s Community Standards and are accurate.