Wednesday, January 8, 2025 -Social media giant Meta announced Tuesday, January 7, a major shift in its content moderation policies, including ending its third-party fact-checking program in the United States.
“We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with
community notes similar to X (formerly Twitter), starting in the US,” Meta
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated on social media.
Zuckerberg justified the change, claiming “fact checkers have just been
too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,
especially in the US.” Meta’s announcement echoed criticisms from Republicans
and X-owner Elon Musk, who have accused fact-checking initiatives of
censorship.
The billionaire added, “Recent elections feel like a cultural tipping
point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.” His remarks came amid efforts
to rebuild ties with US President-elect Donald Trump, including a $1 million
donation to Trump’s inauguration fund.
Zuckerberg also revealed that Meta platforms, including Facebook and
Instagram, will simplify their content policies and remove several restrictions
on topics such as immigration and gender, arguing they are “out of touch with
mainstream discourse.”
Trump has previously criticized Meta and Zuckerberg, accusing the
company of liberal bias. His Facebook account was suspended following the
January 6, 2021, Capitol attack but was reinstated in early 2023. In a further
attempt to mend relations with Trump, Zuckerberg recently dined with the former
president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in November.
Additionally, Meta added Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President
Dana White, a known Trump ally, to its board of directors. Meta further
announced it would reverse its 2021 policy of reducing political content on its
platforms. The company will instead allow users greater control over the amount
of political content they see across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
AFP currently collaborates with Facebook’s global fact-checking program,
operating in 26 languages with around 80 organizations providing fact-checks
for Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
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