Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's recent shift appears to be nothing more than a window dressing, as his company's policies still support popular censorship.
Zuckerberg rocked the online world when he announced the epic policy change in early January 2025, vowing to pivot his company from the censorship reflex in his knee.
Previously, Facebook and Instagram would quickly censor, suspend and ban users, pose as police for hate speech and misinformation.
Meta is famous for President Donald Trump's halt from the platform following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. We defended the decision at the time by labeling Trump's online presence as “a serious risk to public safety.”
Trump sued Meta for the action and was set to win a $25 million settlement in January.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 10: Facebook co-founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before hearing a Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee hearing at Hart Senate Office in Capitol Hill on April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg, 33, was called to testify after 87 million Facebook users were reported to have personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm related to the Trump campaign. ChipSomodevilla/Getty Images
Meta also took a wide range of steps to limit user content related to Covid-19, which did not match the narratives from major World Health Organizations. (Related: Zuckerberg refused to name them, but found out by people who supported them on Facebook on Biden Censor Americans)
Meta employees regularly asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help them decide which content is permitted on the platform.
Zuckerberg later expressed regret for the moderate stock of its content. “Unfortunately, many facilities on such facts are surrounded by a lot of facts, and in retrospect, I think they asked a lot to censor what was more controversial or true,” he told podcaster Rex Friedman in 2023.
This entry follows Trump First major polling surge The 2024 presidential election launched a spell of media appearances and propaganda moves that marked a thoughtful rethink of Zuckerberg's digital empire's censorship regime.
The ideological update peaked in a January 2025 video, with Zuckerberg declared, “It's time for it to return to its roots with free expression on Facebook and Instagram.”
Below is the complete video of Mark Zuckerberg, who announced the end of his policy of censorship and misinformation.
I highly recommend looking at it all. pic.twitter.com/aypkxrtqwe
– Saagar Enjeti (@esagar) January 7, 2025
Despite the big order, Meta's current community standards still keep the doors wide open for censorship.
Continuing on to Zuckerberg's January video, Meta reform The company's policy regarding “hate speech,” an e-song expression that was previously used by mass-censored users.
The censorship first policy, together with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), gained rage from both the right and left write“Facebook doesn't help serve as a true arbitrator and false information. You need to be aware of the power to strip certain posts or to moderate content.”
Meta has removed the hate speech section in its terms and conditions and in exaggerated Mea culpa. Recognised Too many users were caught up in “Facebook Prison” due to “harmless content”.
However, current community standards include a comprehensive section that tells users not to post “content.”Hateful behavior” policy.
This policy does not allow users to post shaming about people's personalities, but is not limited to “co-illness, fraud, basic crimes, sexual orgy allegations” and “political and religious discourse regarding the common and inappropriate use of words like transgenderism and homosexuality and homosexuality, the “strange””.
Regarding public health-related censorship, a Meta spokesman told Daily Callner that the company has completely abandoned its previous policy on Covid-19 misinformation. 2022 Guidance From the Oversight Committee.
The guidance states, “Given Meta's claim that a single global approach to Covid-19 misinformation is needed, the Board concludes that Meta should maintain its current policy as long as the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to declare Covid-19 a state of international public health emergency.”
Despite the confession that Zuckerberg's true speech is prohibited by that policy, Meta's community guidelines still include a section on “harmful health misinformation” targeting non-covid-related public health issues. The policy states, “We will consult with major health organizations to identify health misinformation that may directly contribute to the impending harm to public health and safety.”
Meta did not address daily caller questions about whether he still works in conjunction with the same public health agencies he did during the Covid-19 pandemic, or whether he consulted with more stakeholders.
As part of the company's bullying and harassment policy, you also stop yourself if you generate content that “is on the wrong end of a halt” and “feels disgusting or expresses an individual portrayed in the process of urinating, vomiting, or defecation,” and you also stop yourself. ”
A Meta spokesman explained that the bullying and harassment policy allows users to express their dislike of action, but may not target specific people, and the policy was not changed as part of the January announcement.
Furthermore, the meta still has a long section on “misinformation,” with a term commonly used for many of its COVID-19 censorship, many of which, although revealed later, were the Biden administration's request. (Related: Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that Biden administrators will “scream” and “curse” with Meta employees to censor “true” content)
Incorrect information section “There is no way to clarify a comprehensive list of things that are prohibited.”
Still, this section raids a comprehensive list of categories of misinformation, including those related to vaccines and “election and census integrity.”
Screenshots of a list of vaccine-related misinformation metas. (Screenshot/Meta3/31/2025.)
Meta's January policy shift was preceded in a month by an official request for public comments on major technology censorship from Trump's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson.
FTC Request public comment It often precedes formal action, indicating that Zuckerberg may not be doing enough to remove himself from the conservative crosshairs.
“If there is any doubt, Big Technology is notifying us. We are not going to step out of the gas any time soon. The era of censorship and monopoly is over,” a senior FTC official told the Daily Caller previously.
The same goes for FTC I'll move forward An anti-trust lawsuit was filed over the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp during Trump's first term against Meta, with the trial date set for April 14th.
After fighting President Joe Biden's FTC Chairman for the majority of the past four years, Zuckerberg's President Lina Kahn appeared to be sought conservative favors into the new administration.
He publicly showed many actions and stunts that seemed to appeal to conservatives, leading up to the policy shift in meta.
He criticized the Biden administration's censorship request while appearing on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. He frequently posted video clips of him taking part in Jiu-Jitsu and lifting his weight. He officially came out as a libertarian. (Related: Mark Zuckerberg's embrace of physical violence made him a better man)
Zuckerberg has also appointed numerous Republicans and Trump allies to influential positions within his company. He added to Meta's board of directors, UFC president Dana White, who is a close friend of Trump.
It questions the credibility of Zuckerberg's movements. Zuckerberg's January reversal was not a serious attempt to correct previous mistakes, but simply a “magic trick of free expression.” I wrote it.
“He crowns his company with the power to censor his nation-state, and he is crowned crowned as the king of writing policies,” Thomas said.
Many of the policies used to limit central speeches on Facebook are still in place. Meta is in the process of abandoning the fact-checking program, but has established a community note function that follows X.
During the 2020 election, when FBIFACE, at the request of the FBI and Biden administrations, limited awareness of the New York Post's groundbreaking Hunter Biden laptop story, they did so under the auspices of hacked materials policy.
Facebook employees have rejected the story as “the exact content you'd expect from the hacks and leaks.” According to Go to the internal chat logs obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.
Meta's new community standards still maintain a policy regarding “information obtained from hacked sources.”
The policy says the company will remove content “which confirms that it has been confirmed that it comes from hacked sources, whether it is charged by the poster or whether the affected person is a public figure or an individual.”
According to Meta, the company's anti-heart speech action peaked in 2021, with Meta taking action on more than 95 million content that year. Transparency Record. These actions exceeded just 25 million in 2023.
