Meta: Switzerland is concerned about “fact-checking” on Facebook

Thursday 09th January 2025 10:17 AM

Meta social networks –

Switzerland worries about the abandonment of “fact-checking” on Facebook

Beat Jans believes that Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to verify information on his platforms is “worrying.” He calls on the media to react.

Published today at 4:02 p.m. Updated 3 minutes ago

Beat Jans called for a reaction, a “counter-movement”. He calls on the media to come into play.

KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex

Subscribe now and enjoy the audio playback feature.

BotTalk

The Minister of Justice, Beat Jans, judged “worrying” on Thursday the decision of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to abandon the fact-checking function on his platform. However, this measure could also constitute an opportunity for the media, according to the socialist minister.

“If big tech no longer wants to sort the true from the false, then you, the media, come into play,” underlined Beat Jans, interviewed during his video intervention before the Association of German-speaking Publishers (VSM) in Zurich.

Beat Jans called for a reaction, a “counter-movement”. Already today, he judges his own X account to be “a hell of a dump”.

The boss of Meta announced a few days ago that he was putting an end to “fact-checking” within his group in the United States. Restrictions on controversial topics like migration will be lifted. This decision is seen as a desire for rapprochement with the elected American president, Donald Trump.

Instead of relying on fact-checkers, Meta will in future rely on evaluations posted by users themselves, i.e. “Community Notes”. Mark Zuckerberg is thus following the example of Elon Musk and his platform X, formerly Twitter.

Newsletter

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “24 Heures” offers you two appointments per day, directly in your email box. So you don’t miss anything that’s happening in your Canton, in Switzerland or around the world.