Key Takeaways:
- Meta has announced the discontinuation of its fact-checking program and will implement a crowdsourced content moderation system, relying on user collaboration to flag misinformation. With fashion placing a heavy emphasis on social engagement, and holiday retail performance tilting even further towards mobile and social channels, this could quickly challenge current notions of “brand safety”.
- NGO Transparentem’s investigation has alleged unethical practices in India’s cotton farms that supply major brands like Adidas, H&M, Amazon, and The Gap. This provides further evidence that companies for whom disclosure either already is – or will become – mandatory cannot rely on intermediaries, agents, and sourcing agreements. Direct observation will become the only viable currency.
Uncharted territory ahead for content moderation, e-commerce, and brand safety
This week, Meta Platforms Inc. (parent to Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Whatsapp) announced its plans via video to make some dramatic changes to its fact-checking and content moderation policies.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told users that the company would be discontinuing a content verification program, introduced on Facebook in 2016, that involved using third-party fact-checkers, certified by the International Fact-Checking Network and the European Fact-Checking Standards Network. The program included over 90 organisations fact-checking posts in more than 60 languages, with participants in the United States such as PolitiFact and Factcheck.org.
Instead, Meta will now use a crowdsourced content moderation system, similar to X’s Community Notes. The new approach allows users to contribute notes expressing their perspective on posts, and review each other’s contributions. Essentially, the responsibility is now on users to identify misinformation across Meta’s social media platforms.
Meta claims this feature will require consensus from individuals with diverse viewpoints to minimise biased ratings. The company plans to launch Community Notes in the US within the next two months, with a global rollout expected within a year.
The overarching reason for the sweeping change, according to Zuckerberg, is that the new system will promote free speech, while also removing the “political bias” of fact-checkers. Also, the existing program was apparently too sensitive and that 1 to 2 out of every 10 pieces of content it took down in December might not have actually violated company policies.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg explained.
This change, along with users having to wade through much more harmful content, could have some serious repercussions for brand safety.
In the past, advertising revenue was largely driven by contextual targeting, where brands vied for ad placements near relevant content. But with the rise of programmatic advertising and the adoption of behavioural targeting algorithms (by platforms like Google and YouTube) advertisers began to lose control over where their ads were displayed.
Fast forward to today: the social media and search landscape has become even more complicated with the embedding of AI and different ways that consumers are interacting with technology platforms.
In 2024, Google rolled out “AI Overviews” in search, OpenAI integrated its previously-separate “SearchGPT” product into the core of ChatGPT, and Instagram and TikTok became even more popular as marketplaces with their easily digestible short videos – even with a looming ban for the latter. Internet users are also increasingly turning away from general Google searches on products and finding use for social search to access product reviews, user comments and advice, and influencer opinions. Internet users are also increasingly turning away from general Google searches on products, a recent Forbes report finds, and instead using social search to access product reviews, comments and advice, and influencer opinions. This trend is particularly evident among younger audiences, with 46% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials turning to social searching. 24% of respondents reported finding new brands on social media daily – clearly as effective as it gets as a brand discovery platform.
As for the next layer, how exactly the laissez-faire approach to moderation will play out for brands and retailers is one that all will be watching in real-time. And they will be watching – according to Adobe’s annual report, the 2024 holiday shopping season saw a record $241.4 billion in online spending, an 8.7% increase from the previous year. What’s more, the time between the 1st of November and the 31st of December set a new record as the “most mobile shopping period ever,” with smartphones contributing to 54.5% of online purchases, up from 51.1% in 2023.
This season was a show of how e-commerce is adapting to consumers who favour smaller screens and generative AI for more efficient shopping. Generative AI shopping assistants saw a 1,300% spike in retail site traffic, while 70% of consumers who used these tools reported an improved shopping experience, particularly in finding the best deals on products.
Brands and retailers need to give their full attention to how quickly the nature of product discovery is changing, but formulating a successful strategy may still be difficult because this is an all new beast altogether. For social media, at least, fashion businesses will need to ensure their content is both discoverable and searchable across all platforms. And combining this approach with educational and compelling content that directly addresses consumer queries will be a core element of a winning strategy.
The baseline for disclosure: science-backed, fibre-forward traceability
A new report by Transparentem – a nonprofit that works to uncover and reform abuses in global supply chains – has called out some of the biggest brands for using cotton from farms in India that use child labour and other illegal practices.
The New York-based organisation carried out an investigation in 2022 and 2023, surveying 90 cotton producers in the state of Madhya Pradesh, central India. The findings uncovered “widespread child labour and illegal adolescent labour,” along with evidence of forced labour practices, including debt bondage, exploitative working conditions, and the abuse of vulnerable individuals.
Transparentem reported that the producers it investigated supply cotton to three Indian companies, which in turn sell to major brands such as Adidas, H&M, Amazon, and The Gap. The kicker? One of these companies, Pratibha Syntex, markets itself as India’s largest sustainable apparel manufacturer, collaborating with thousands of farmers who grow cotton under organic and ethical standards.
Following the report, the NGO has urged all buyers and suppliers to set out strong traceability systems and define clear plans to create ethical working conditions for farmers in Madhya Pradesh. The report includes detailed company responses, along with a summary of brand actions both at the time of publication and over a year after the findings were shared. Transparentem expressed, saying that “many buyers and all suppliers are collaborating with stakeholders to develop remediation plans and improve their understanding of conditions on cotton farms in the region”.
Even so, the report reveals the limited progress large fashion companies have made in cleaning up their supply chains. Many brands have begun to revise their cotton sourcing strategies in recent years – in part because of legislation like the US’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) – but addressing and preventing issues within the cotton supply chain is inherently difficult.
As explained by Oritain – the New Zealand-based company applying forensic and data science to verify the origin of products and raw materials – Cotton goes through a long and complicated journey from farm to factory. It is grown in different countries, mixed at ginners or mills, then baled and shipped to intermediate manufacturers. It is then blended again to create yarns suitable for specific customer requirements. These cotton fibres might be intermingled in the same batch or production run, making it extremely difficult for brands to trace back to their specific points of origin. This creates a real risk for brands and retailers making sustainability claims.
Many fashion companies depend on certification schemes and third-party audits, which have been widely criticised for their repeated failure to detect or stop labor abuses. Just last year, Better Cotton (an industry body and certification scheme advocating for better standards in cotton farming and practices) was accused of not properly verifying cotton linked to illegal deforestation, human rights abuses, and land grabbing in Brazil.
Now in 2025, with the heightened levels of scrutiny due to new sustainability regulations in fashion’s most important jurisdictions – not to mention complex supply chains and rising consumer demand for responsibly sourced fibres – a fibre-forward and science-backed traceability is the only thing that is going to cut it.
In practice, this means brands must work closely with their suppliers to track and document the materials used throughout the manufacturing process. Establishing direct communication and relationships with suppliers across all tiers to be traced will be essential. Science-backed technologies that can physically tracing products are critical for achieving more accurate insights into fibres like cotton. The most impactful approach will merge these knowledge streams, as gathering accurate and verified data will enable brands to take decisive action and fast-track sustainable transformation.
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