The News
Meta is ending its fact-checking program, the company said on Tuesday, replacing it with a system similar to X’s Community Notes, which relies on users to flag misinformation.
In a video announcing the new policy, which relaxes restrictions on free speech, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the fact-checking system had “reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship.” He also noted that recent elections “feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.”
The move comes as Meta looks to build ties with the incoming Trump administration. The organization this week appointed Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a staunch Trump ally, to its board, and replaced the head of its global policy team, a former center-left UK politician, with a prominent Republican.
SIGNALS
Republicans have long pressed for free speech over content moderation
Republicans have long argued that most social media content moderation policies unfairly target right-wing views, effectively censoring them. In Texas and Florida, conservative lawmakers sought to restrict how social media companies moderate content on their platforms, while Missouri and Louisiana Republicans unsuccessfully sued the Biden administration for pushing platforms to remove some content about COVID-19. These efforts reflect a deeper ideological division: According to one study, Republicans are half as likely as Democrats to want false content removed, and more than twice as likely to perceive any removal as censorship.
Tech companies increasingly cozy up to Trump
As Mark Zuckerberg gives Meta what one MSNBC columnist deemed a “MAGA-friendly makeover,” Silicon Valley more broadly is making an effort to cozy up to the incoming administration. Meta and Amazon each donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, while OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said he would personally donate. Altman, who has repeatedly donated to Democrats, said in a Fox News interview that Trump will be “very good” for fostering AI development. “Trump likes favors and he likes flattery and these are things that do win him over,” one expert told The Hill. “These companies have realized that it’s not enough just to be quiet and on the sidelines.”