Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday (January 7) the social media giant was rolling back the use of third-party fact-checkers on its platforms, starting with the US.
Zuckerberg claimed that “fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the US.”
Many conservatives have long described the fact-checking programs as censorship.
Elon Musk’s X platform, which Zuckerberg said the new Meta system aimed to emulate, had also abandoned fact-checkers and replaced them with community notes.
What did Zuckerberg say?
In a video he posted on Facebook, Zuckerberg said Meta was focused on “restoring free expression” on its platforms, which also include Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.
“It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression. We’re replacing fact-checkers with community notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes,” another Zuckerberg statement read.
The 40-year-old tycoon said that “recent elections feel like a cultural tipping point toward, once again, prioritising speech.”
He added that Meta platforms would “simplify” their content policies” and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”
Meta will also relocate its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas. Zuckerberg suggested the southern state is a place where “there is less concern about the bias of our teams”.
Meta platforms will also allow users greater control over the amount of political content they see, reversing a 2021 policy to reduce political content across its platforms.
“It feels like we’re in a new era now,” Zuckerberg said. “And we’re starting to get feedback that people want to see this content again.”
Closer ties with Trump
The move comes as Zuckerberg strives to mend ties with President-elect Donald Trump, who had previously accused Meta of supporting liberal policies and being biased against conservatives.
Zuckerberg’s Meta had donated $1 million (€962,310) to Trump’s inauguration fund.
Following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots, Facebook kicked out Trump, though his account was later restored.
In November, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, in what was seen as an effort to repair his company’s relationship with the incoming US president.
In his video on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said Meta will “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world going after American companies and pushing to censor more.”
He cited what he called European laws “institutionalising censorship,” Latin American “secret courts” and China’s wide censorship practices, calling on the US government’s support to push back on “this global trend”.
This article was originally published on DW.
