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Meta's decision to abandon its fact-checking program and adopt a crowdsourced model emphasising "free expression" has sparked intense debate about its implications for misinformation and hate speech online.
This profound shift in content moderation comes less than two weeks before Donald Trump's reinstatement as President and marks a significant change in how Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, manages content on its platforms.
The move is seen as a response to criticism from conservatives, who argued that Meta's fact-checking policies disproportionately stifled right-wing thought. Trump himself had threatened Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, stating that he could "spend the rest of his life in prison" if he attempted to interfere with the 2024 election.
Since Trump's electoral victory, Zuckerberg has made efforts to mend their relationship. This includes donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund and promoting longtime conservative Joel Kaplan to become Meta's new global policy chief. Kaplan's leadership has resulted in Meta adopting a Community Notes model, similar to the one championed by Trump ally Elon Musk at X, where unpaid users police content instead of third-party experts.
Zuckerberg has acknowledged that this policy change might mean that "we're going to catch less bad stuff." Trump, when asked if Meta's change was in response to his previous threats, replied, "Probably." The changes will affect Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, with over 3 billion users globally, and will also stop proactive scanning for hate speech, focusing instead on removing "high-severity violations" like terrorism and child exploitation.
Critics argue that Meta's new approach will lead to an increase in misinformation and hate speech online. Nora Benavidez, Free Press Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights, stated that "content moderation has never been a tool to repress free speech; it is a principle that the platforms themselves developed to promote dialogue and protect truth for users." Benavidez also emphasised that Zuckerberg's decision is not about protecting free speech, but rather about "ditching the technology company's responsibility to protect its many users" and aligning with Trump's agenda.
"Zuck's announcement is a full bending of the knee to Trump and an attempt to catch up to Musk in his race to the bottom," Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert, said on Bluesky, referring to Elon Musk, owner of X.
Zuckerberg's pivot towards Trump's administration is seen as a unique move, given Meta's dominant position in how Americans communicate online. With four Meta apps - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger - being among the most widely used internet platforms, the implications of this policy change are far-reaching.
English (US) · 