Meta ends its fact-checking program in the United States, Musk finds it “cool”, Trump says he “probably” influenced the decision

Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) announced Tuesday January 7 that it will end its fact-checking program in the United States, marking a major setback in the social network’s content moderation policy, according to specialists.

“We will get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X (formerly Twitter), starting in the United States”declared the boss of the group, Mark Zuckerberg, in a message on social networks. According to Mark Zuckerberg, “auditors have been too politically oriented and have done more to reduce trust than to improve it, particularly in the United States”.

Meta’s announcement comes as Republicans and the owner of rival social network X, Elon Musk, have repeatedly complained about fact-checking programs, which they liken to censorship. “The recent elections appear to be a cultural tipping point once again prioritizing freedom of expression”estimated the boss of Meta.

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At the same time, the group should review and “simplify” its rules regarding content on all of its platforms and “put an end to a number of limits regarding topics, such as immigration and gender, which are no longer in dominant discourses”.

“Major setback”

“This is a major setback for content moderation policy, at a time when misinformation and dangerous content are changing faster than ever”worried the co-founder of the Information Resilience Center (CIR), Russ Burley, in a comment. “Efforts to protect freedom of expression are essential, but stepping back on fact-checking without a credible alternative opens the door to a flood of even more dangerous content”he insisted.

“It’s cool”for his part, contented himself with commenting on Elon Musk, on his social network “Facebook fires fact-checkers in an attempt to “restore” free speech”and which continues with the sentence: “Mark Zuckerberg says content moderators are “politically biased” while promising a system similar to X’s.”

Donald Trump judged that he had ” probably “ influenced the decision of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) to cease its fact-checking operations in the United States, during a press conference at its Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Meta and Facebook “have made a lot of progress”judged the Republican president-elect, questioned about this announcement, before responding ” probably “ to a journalist who asked him if he believed that Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg had acted in this way because of threats that Donald Trump had issued in the past.

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The announcement comes as Mark Zuckerberg has made numerous gestures towards President-elect Donald Trump, notably via a donation of one million dollars for the fund financing the inauguration ceremonies of the mandate, scheduled for January 20.

The Republican candidate had been particularly critical of Meta and his boss in recent years, accusing the company of bias and supporting progressive speeches. Donald Trump was suspended from Facebook after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but his account was reactivated in early 2023.

More political content

Mark Zuckerberg had dinner in November with Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago (Florida) residence, in a gesture seen as a desire to calm relations with the future American president. In another gesture aimed at conservatives, Meta appointed a Donald Trump loyalist, Joel Kaplan, to head its public affairs, replacing the former British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who resigned.

“Too much harmless content has been censored, too many people have been unfairly locked up in “Facebook prison””Joel Kaplan said in a statement, insisting that the current approach had gone “too far”.

Another gesture of appeasement on the part of Meta, the appointment of the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White, also close to Donald Trump, to the Meta board of directors.

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Among the upcoming developments, Meta should move its teams “trust and security” from California, generally more progressive, to Texas, a more conservative state. “This will help us build the confidence to get the job done with less worry about bias among our teams.”justified Mark Zuckerberg.

A movement which also goes with the desire to reverse its decision, in 2021, to reduce political content on its platforms. The company now wants to take a more personalized approach, giving users greater control over how much political content they want to see on Facebook, Instagram or Threads.

A Brazilian government official on Tuesday accused the Meta group (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) of seeking to “serve Trump’s interests” “Today’s announcement by Mark Zuckerberg (the boss of Meta) is a foretaste of the Trump administration”said Joao Brant, secretary for digital policies at the Brazilian presidency, in a series of messages on the social network X.