National
Meta ends fact-checking program as Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook, Instagram
Meta will replace its fact checking program with the “community notes” system pioneered by Elon Musk’s X as part of the tech giant’s move to revive free speech on its social media platforms, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday morning.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. “More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”
Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to “manage content” and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to “political pressure,” executives said, but admitted the system has “gone too far.”
Meta is also set to change how it enforces its policies, namely by “tackling illegal and high severity violations” while letting a low severity violation be reported before an action is taken. Before, Meta’s content filters were used to target any policy violation.
As part of the overhaul, Meta said it will relocate its trust and safety teams from California, where liberal views are commonplace, to more conservative Texas.
“That will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams,” Zuckerberg said.
Additionally, Meta announced it would reverse its 2021 policy of reducing political content across its platforms.
Instead, the company will adopt a more personalized approach, allowing users greater control over the amount of political content they see on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
