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.
