Days after Meta canceled its fact-checking initiative on Facebook and Instagram due to censorship concerns, the UN rights chief emphasized that controlling hate speech and damaging content online "is not censorship."

"Allowing hate speech and harmful content online has real world consequences. Regulating such content is not censorship," Volker Turk said on X.

"My Office calls for accountability and governance in the digital space, in line with human rights."

In response to concerns that the program had made "too many mistakes and too much censorship," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that the company will "get rid of fact-checkers" and replace them with community-based posts, beginning in the United States.

Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta platforms "would use community notes similar to X (formerly Twitter), starting in the US," he continued.

Currently, Facebook pays for the usage of fact checks from about 80 organizations worldwide on Instagram, WhatsApp, and the platform itself.

Turk expanded on his remarks on LinkedIn, warning that social media has the "proven ability to fuel conflict, incite hatred, and threaten safety" without bringing up Meta or X.

"When at its best, social media is a place where people with divergent views can exchange, if not always agree," he said.

Yet, he said, "when we call efforts to create safe online spaces 'censorship', we ignore the fact that unregulated space means some people are silenced – in particular those whose voices are often marginalised" .

But for now, he said, "it's important for us to be present with fact-based information".

World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris agreed.