Social

More extremists than institutional politicians on Facebook: Meta's hearing in the House

Meta Italia's public policy manager responded to the study by the University of Urbino, according to which social media favours extremist users over institutional politicians

by Rome Editorial Staff

14 January 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The study
Extremists
I reel
Political content and the role of fact-checkers on Facebook

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

It would be the expanding social 'new formats', and in particular 'the reels', that would be one of the causes of the increased visibility Facebook has given to extremist politicians over institutional ones.

This is what Flavio Arzanello, public policy manager at Meta Italia, said when answering a question on the recent study by the University of Urbino, during the hearing in the Chamber on the bipartisan bills (A.C. 1765, A.C. 1788, first signatories Kelany of Fdi and Furfaro of Pd) containing norms for transparency, equal treatment and freedom of expression for political content in social platforms.

The Studio

The analysis, published on 7 January, reportedly showed that the change of approach implemented by Meta between 2021 and 2025 was less effective against extremists, who often carry anti-European messages, i.e. precisely the strand it intended to target and curb.

In February 2021, Meta announced that it would reduce the distribution of political content in users' news feeds, implementing this globally by July 2022, then reverting to its original strategy and reversing course in January 2025.

The report analysed Meta's policy of reducing political content using a data 'baggage' of more than 2.5 million Facebook posts made by Italian parliamentarians, prominent politicians and political extremist accounts during the period February 2021 - November 2025.

Extremists

A central theme is precisely users defined as 'extremist'. Arzanello emphasised that he had not 'looked into the merits of the methodology' of the study and, therefore, 'what is meant by extremist or mainstream accounts'. The University of Urbino clarifies that it includes Italian Facebook pages and public figures characterised by anti-establishment narratives, criticism of mainstream media and public figures, and scepticism towards vaccines and health policies. The dominant themes of the accounts, which span the political spectrum, focus on distrust of institutions, criticism of the Covid vaccine, and opposition to narratives perceived as elitist.

"We are willing to investigate further," added the Meta Italia representative, "but in general I would point out that, compared to the period analysed, the formats have changed: the reel represent a higher percentage than before and this may be the effect.

I reel

The main aspect of reels is that they appear in the screens of random users (based on preference algorithms anyway), even if the latter do not follow the author.

It is no coincidence that, together with Arzanello, Luana Lavecchia, government relations manager of Tik Tok for Italy and Greece, a social platform that specialises precisely in short videos (rarely longer than a minute) and which, during the Covid pandemic, made them depopulate online, making platforms such as Facebook and Instagram adapt.

Political content and the role of fact-checkers on Facebook

Among other topics discussed in the House of the Transport Commission was the way Facebook treats political content on the platform. That is, 'in the same way as other content'.

As far as fact-checkers are concerned, i.e. those users in charge of verifying the information published on the platform, their number was 'meagre compared to the content' and that is why they have been removed and replaced in the United States by'community notes', i.e., reports made by any user, 'Wikipedia-style'. Soon, Arzanello announced, 'they will also arrive in Europe'.

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