Mark Zuckerberg built up Facebook’s content-policing efforts in the wake of Donald Trump’s first presidential election. Now the Meta Platforms META -1.97%decrease; red down pointing triangle chief executive is reversing course as he embraces a second Trump presidency.
Meta is ending fact-checking and removing restrictions on speech across Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg said in a video Tuesday, a move he described as an attempt to restore free expression on its platforms.
“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 in the video. He said Meta is getting rid of fact-checkers and, starting in the U.S., replacing them with a so-called Community Notes system similar to Elon Musk’s on the X platform, in which users flag posts they think need more context.
While Meta will continue to target illegal behavior, Zuckerberg wrote in a separate Threads post, it will stop enforcing content rules about immigration and gender that are “out of touch […]
Zuckerberg admitted that his so called “fact checkers” were politically biased. The work of Matt Taibbi and other journalists documenting both subtle and not so subtle attempts at government censorship through third parties has been occurring for years. If you are not familiar with the data associated with the “Twitter Files” articles I encourage you to investigate. It will show you the slimey methods the government will use to restrict your information. I am consistently suprised at the level of censorship called for by so called liberals. The responsibility of fact checking is yours dear reader. It is up to you to verify your sources. Allowing others to mediate your news leaves you vulnerable to manipulation. There is nothing which beats active engagement. I don’t get my news from Facebook but I know many other have done so. I applaud Facebook for this action.