Meta makes major move back to free speech and ends 3rd-party fact-checking program
In 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter and made a series of changes to the platform, including changing its name to X and introducing Community Notes, which is a feature that allows users to add context or fact-check potentially misleading posts.
This approach differs from Meta’s model, which relies on third-party, independent fact-checking organizations to flag misleading posts on Instagram, Facebook and Threads (its rival to X).
However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Meta will stop working with these organizations and instead implement an X-like Community Notes feature. Zuckerberg also revealed a series of other major changes to the company's moderation policies and practices, aimed at offering people more freedom of expression.
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Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that the social media company would stop working with third-party fact-checking organizations. In a video posted on Instagram and Facebook, Zuckerberg said the company's content moderation approach resulted too often in "censorship."
"After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth," Zuckerberg said. "But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S."
Zuckerberg said that Meta will end its fact-checking program with trusted partners and replace it with a community-driven system similar to X’s Community Notes.
For the unaware, Community Notes on X allows users to collaboratively add context or fact-check potentially misleading posts. When a tweet is flagged for misinformation or lack of context, users can submit notes that provide additional information or correct inaccuracies.
These notes are then reviewed by other users, who can upvote or downvote the contributions based on their helpfulness and accuracy. If a note receives enough support, it becomes visible beneath the original tweet, offering a balanced view and helping to inform others.
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Independent fact-checkers, however, aren’t happy with the change.
"Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact-checkers used by Meta follow a code of principles requiring nonpartisanship and transparency," said Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network.
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Zuckerberg also revealed plans to overhaul Meta's recommendation system, which determines the content shown to users. For years, the company has restricted political content, citing user feedback and concerns about the impact of social media on beliefs.
"We built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, but the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes," Zuckerberg said. "Even if they accidentally censor just 1% of posts, that's millions of people, and we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship."
He added that Meta would eliminate some content policies on controversial issues, including immigration and gender, and refocus its automated moderation on what he described as high-severity violations. The company will now take a more personalized approach to political content so that people who want to see more of it in their feeds can see it.
In addition, Facebook will relocate its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas. Zuckerberg also said Meta would collaborate with the incoming Trump administration to promote free speech globally, though he did not provide specific details.
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Meta's platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, have been more tightly moderated compared to platforms like X, which has meant less freedom of expression for users. The changes Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday aim to relax those rules, letting people share their thoughts more freely. This could lead to more offensive content, but that's the trade-off for more freedom. The introduction of Community Notes is a good change, too, as it gives users more control instead of leaving it to a small group of people who might be biased toward a certain political party or issue.
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