Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes to the company’s heavy-handed, biased moderation policies and practices Tuesday, citing a shifting political and social landscape and a newfound desire to embrace free speech a la Elon Musk’s X. Zuckerberg said that Meta will end its so-called “fact-checking” program with third-party partners and replace it with a community-driven system similar to X’s highly effective Community Notes.
Bruna Horvath, Jason Abbruzzese, and Ben Goggin for NBC News:
The changes will affect Facebook and Instagram, two of the largest social media platforms in the world, each boasting billions of users, as well as Threads.
“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 said in a video. “More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”
Zuckerberg pointed to the election as a major influence on the company’s decision and criticized “governments and legacy media” for allegedly pushing “to censor more and more.”
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech,” he said.
“So we’re gonna get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
Facebook will also be moving its trust and safety and content moderation team from California to Texas.
Zuckerberg’s announcement comes as CEOs and business leaders across sectors are currying favor with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Meta, along with other tech companies, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund… Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Meta has reportedly appointed Republican Joel Kaplan to lead its policy team, and on Monday, the company announced that UFC’s Dana White, a long-time supporter of Trump, would join its board…
Lastly, Zuckerberg said Meta would work with the incoming Trump administration to promote free speech around the world, though he did not detail any steps toward that goal.
“We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” he said, adding that various countries have cracked down on certain speech online.
“The only way that we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the U.S. government, and that’s why it’s been so difficult over the past four years, when even the U.S. government has pushed for censorship,” Zuckerberg added. “By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further.”
MacDailyNews Take: Weasels like Zuckerberg get themselves into predicaments and then they try to weasel out of them. This newfound dedication to free expression smacks of someone who fears investigations into past practices.
So, we’ll believe Meta wants freedom of speech when we see it in practice.
Additionally, Meta’s past egregious and multitudinous acts of censorship should not be swept under the rug.
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