Islamabad: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to end fact-checking programmes across Meta’s social media platforms has worried political commentators.
As part of the sweeping changes, the tech billionaire said Meta aimed to “restore free expression” on its social media platforms.
According to Fox News, Zuckerberg previewed the changes coming to Facebook, Instagram and other Meta apps in a video message.
“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.
More specifically, he said they were going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the US, he added.
We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes.” – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg admitted the third-party fact-checkers who partnered with Meta after Donald Trump’s election in 2016 had proven to be “too politically biased” and had “destroyed more trust than they created.”
Fox News claimed Meta executives revealed the company would also be making changes to rules moderating speech on sensitive topics such as immigration and gender that were “too restrictive.”
The dichotomy
While conservatives praised Meta’s decision, the news was met with heavy criticism from left-leaning voices in the media.
CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter said Meta was “trying to appeal” to the Trump administration with its “MAGA-friendly” changes.
“Mark Zuckerberg’s MAGA makeover will reshape the entire internet,” Stelter wrote in a CNN analysis criticising Meta’s move and calling censorship concerns on these platforms, “right-wing” talking points.
“Doing away with fact-checkers is incredibly dangerous,” journalist and former ESPN host Jemele Hill also wrote.
“Just because you say it, doesn’t make it true. So if I said that Donald Trump was hatched from a rhinoceros and a Martian, created some graphics and headlines and presented as a fact, then that’s cool?” she asked.
Doing away with fact checkers is incredibly dangerous. Just because you say it, doesn’t make it true.
So if I said that Donald Trump was hatched from a rhinoceros and a Martian, created some graphics and headlines and presented as a fact, then that’s cool?
We have seen the… https://t.co/beuZh7b3fg
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) January 7, 2025
“In what looks almost like a hostage video, Zuckerberg bends the knee to Trump entirely — doing away with Facebook fact-checkers and moving the process to Texas under the guise of protecting free expression,” progressive media outlet the Tennessee Holler posted.
.@PolitiFact will have more to say on this. But these are my thoughts. This decision has nothing to do with free speech or censorship. (PolitiFact is an original partner and has been working on this project for 8+ years). https://t.co/NjydINtNlf pic.twitter.com/OzL2UwUtmX
— Aaron Sharockman (@asharock) January 7, 2025
Journalists who had partnered with Meta over the past eight years for the fact-checking project also slammed Meta’s decision to end it.
“If Meta is upset it created a tool to censor, it should look in the mirror,” PolitiFact executive director Aaron Sharockman said in a statement posted to X following Zuckerberg’s announcement.
