President Biden on Friday condemned Meta for ending its third-party fact-checking program, calling the change a “shame” that goes against American values.
“The whole idea of moving away from fact-checking is that [sic] In response to a reporter's question about Meta's recent policy changes, Biden said, “We have not reported anything related to discrimination regarding TPS, which I believe is contrary to American justice.” .
What was the 82-year-old president referring to when he suggested that Mehta did not report discrimination on “TPS” (an acronym for Temporary Protected Status Program offered to foreign nationals of certain countries)? It's unknown.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment.
“It's important to tell the truth,” Biden continued.
“I don't know what it is,” he added. “It's completely contrary to everything America stands for.”
Earlier this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would replace third-party fact-checking with a community-driven model similar to rival Platform X's Community Notes.
Zuckerberg said the changes, which affect Facebook, Instagram and Threads, are aimed at “restoring freedom of expression” and “reducing errors” as the company tries to fact-check posts. He said there was.
“We want to tell the truth. We haven't always done that as a country, but we want to tell the truth,” Biden continued during a rare question-and-answer session.
“A billionaire can buy something and say, 'By the way, I'm not going to do that again, I'm not going to fact-check anything,'” the president fumed.
Zuckerberg, 40, didn't buy Meta, he originally founded the company as Facebook in 2004.
“If millions of people are reading stuff like this or going online and reading it, then yeah. Anyway, I think it is, it's a real shame. I think so,” Biden concluded.
Mehta did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
In an interview published hours before the president's remarks, Zuckerberg accused the Biden administration on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast of forcing Meta to censor content related to the coronavirus vaccine.
Meta bosses have claimed that Biden executives called the company's executives and “screamed” and “abused” them while demanding that they remove negative posts about coronavirus vaccines on Facebook.
Zuckerberg called the ordeal “brutal,” arguing that “the U.S. government should be protecting its own companies, not being at the tip of the spear attacking its own companies.”
