Meta's decision to scrap its fact-checking program marks a sharp reversal for the social media giant, and questions about the company's direction are rapidly mounting as President-elect Trump returns to the Oval Office.
The move, coupled with other content moderation policy changes, immediately led some in the political world to hope that Mehta and his colleagues could woo President Trump, who has long accused social media companies of censoring certain opinions. CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw it as a strong signal.
Zuckerberg described the changes as part of the company's return to its “roots” to “restore” free speech on the platform, and said it would replace the fact-checking system with user-generated systems like the one used on X. announced on Tuesday that it will be replaced with “Community Notes.” Under the leadership of Elon Musk.
Political observers are divided over whether the decision was Trump's alone, but it signals that Zuckerberg is trying to get on the right side of power after his rocky relationship with the president-elect. Many agree that it's a movement.
“Meta, like any company, wants to make life as simple as possible for its company,” said Peter Rosi, a former adviser to the Obama administration and now at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. “Meta will take away fact-checking because people like the president of the United States don't like fact-checking.”
“This is a company that says, 'We're getting a lot of criticism from a lot of important people,'” he added.
President Trump hinted that the change had something to do with him, telling reporters on Tuesday that the decision was “probably” in response to previous threats against Zuckerberg and the company.
“Honestly, I think they've come a long way. Both Meta and Facebook, I think they've come a long way,” he said on FOX with Meta policy director Joel Kaplan. He added that he had seen the news interview. “It was impressive.”
Speculation about the political maneuvering between Mr. Mehta and Mr. Zuckerberg has been swirling for weeks after Mr. Trump and the CEO met at Mar-a-Lago late last year and the subsequent leadership change.
Mr. Zuckerberg is one of various technology leaders who have met with Mr. Trump since his reelection.
Mehta named Kaplan, a prominent Republican lobbyist, to replace Nick Clegg as the company's chief international affairs officer. The company announced earlier this week that Dana White, CEO and president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, a Trump ally, would also join its board of directors.
Mr. Zuckerberg pledged to work with President Trump to fight what he described as a push for global “censorship” on major social media platforms.
“We're going back to basics and focusing on reducing mistakes, simplifying policies, and restoring free expression on our platform,” Zuckerberg said. said in the video Posted on Tuesday morning.
He cited the recent elections as a driving force behind the company's decision and accused “the government and traditional media” of forcing the company to “further tighten its censorship.”
“The recent elections feel like a cultural tipping point in favoring speech again,” he said.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning, Kaplan said Mehta's independent fact-checkers are “too biased.”
Meta's third-party fact-checking process was put in place to curb the spread of misinformation after the 2016 presidential election, when Russia attempted to influence the election through Facebook.
Meta is moving to a community-based program called “Community Notes.” The program asks users to submit notes and corrections to posts that are misleading or require further context. It is expected to be rolled out in the United States in the coming months.
The same approach was implemented when Musk acquired X and then Twitter in 2021, overhauling many of the platforms' content moderation practices.
Various media experts expressed concern that this policy change could lead to an increase in disinformation on Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
“There are no gatekeepers,” Loge said. “If the problem with misinformation and disinformation is that a bunch of people get together online and scream this nonsense and make that nonsense even louder, then the solution is to get more people to join that conversation. That's what community standards ultimately dictate.”
Increased scrutiny due to reduced content moderation has already affected Company There is.
“I’m not really surprised,” said Stephen Livingston, founding director of the George Washington University Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics, about the meta change.
“This is all very worrying… Democracies these days tend not to collapse due to some kind of coup d'état, but rather due to the slow erosion of democratic norms and institutions. You'll see something.”
Zuckerberg appears to be following in Musk's footsteps, announcing that he is moving Meta's trust and safety and content management teams from California to Texas, where he said there will be “less concerns about bias on the team.”
Meta executives hinted at changes to content moderation policies in the months leading up to Tuesday's announcement.
Clegg acknowledged last month that Meta's error rate was “too high” and that harmless content could be accidentally removed, but Zuckerberg told the House Judiciary Committee in August that the coronavirus He said he regretted not being more forthright about “government pressure” to remove virus-related content. -19.
At the time, Zuckerberg said Biden administration officials had “repeatedly pressured” Mehta to “censor” content in 2021 and vowed to push back if it happened again.
Some observers argued that these moves indicate that Meta's content moderation changes are part of a larger move at the company that has nothing to do with the president-elect.
Republican strategist Chris Johnson pushed back against claims that Meta's content moderation policies were solely aimed at placating President Trump ahead of Inauguration Day.
“This is primarily a response to the election,” Johnson told The Hill. “There is this feeling among the broader electorate, particularly those who may not have a college education or further education, that elites have a very broad grasp of our debates and political consensus. I feel very unhappy about being there.”
“Meth is a company that's trying to make money. They're seeing that movement among the electorate and they're trying to cater to broader desires,” Johnson continued.
Meanwhile, outgoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan said that Meta, which is facing an antitrust lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, is seeking a “sweetheart deal” from the incoming Trump administration. He suggested that it may be possible.
“It's true that the FTC has had some great successes, including ongoing cases against Amazon and Facebook, so we want to see if these companies can come in and get some good deals. It makes sense,” Khan said on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”
“Could they somehow get a cheaper settlement that would settle it for pennies on the dollar and protect them from liability in court?” she continued.
