Meta Platforms Cancels US Fact-Checking Program, Reduces Moderation Efforts
By Katie Paul, Supantha Mukherjee, Deborah Mary Sophia
Meta Platforms, the parent company of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, announced on Tuesday that it is scrapping its US fact-checking program and reducing its efforts to moderate content on its platforms. The move comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to welcome President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office.
The company is instead introducing a new system called “community notes” that will allow users to flag and report posts that may be false or misleading. This system is similar to the one used on Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Meta will also stop proactively scanning for hate speech and other types of rule-breaking content, and instead will only review such content in response to user reports. The company will focus its automated systems on removing “high-severity violations” such as terrorism, child exploitation, scams, and drugs.
Zuckerberg argued that the changes are necessary to prioritize free speech and avoid “censorship.” He acknowledged the role of the recent US elections in his thinking, saying they “feel like a cultural tipping point, towards once again prioritizing speech.”
The move is seen as a significant shift for Meta, which has been working on the change for over a year. However, it has been met with criticism from fact-checking organizations and journalism groups, who fear that it will lead to an increase in misinformation and disinformation on the platforms.
The changes will affect Meta’s flagship platform, Facebook, as well as its Instagram and Threads apps, which have more than 3 billion users globally.
In response to the announcement, Trump welcomed the changes, saying that the company has “come a long way” and that Zuckerberg was a “very impressive” person. When asked if he thought Zuckerberg was responding to his threats, including a pledge to imprison the CEO, Trump said “probably.”
