At the start of 2025, Meta is making a major shift in its content moderation strategy on its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms. Mark Zuckerberg’s company announces several significant changes aimed at promoting greater freedom of expression, in a particular political context with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House.
The End of Third-Party Fact-Checking
Meta is ending its external fact-checking program launched in 2016, to adopt a “Community Notes” system similar to that used on X (formerly Twitter). Mark Zuckerberg justifies this change by pointing out the political biases of fact-checkers: “Fact-checkers have destroyed more trust than they have created, particularly in the United States.” The new system will allow the community itself to flag potentially misleading content and add context, with the need for consensus between different perspectives to validate these annotations.
The company will also ease its restrictions on several subjects considered to be part of “mainstream discourse”, including immigration and gender identity. Automatic moderation will now be focused on serious violations such as terrorism, child exploitation or large-scale drug trafficking. For less serious violations, Meta will wait for several reports before taking action. Joel Kaplan, new director of global affairs, acknowledges that the company made “too many mistakes” in its moderation, estimating that between 10 and 20% of content removed did not actually violate the rules.
A strategic rapprochement with the Trump administration
These changes are part of a clear desire by Meta to get closer to the future Trump administration. The company is moving its moderation teams from California to Texas, and Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants to “work with President Trump” to fight government censorship around the world. This reorientation is also evident in Meta’s governance, with the recent appointment of new members to the board of directors, including Dana White, a known supporter of Donald Trump.
This new direction is already generating contrasting reactions. While some see this as a welcome return to more freedom of expression, others, like the organization Public Citizen, are concerned: “Asking users to verify the facts themselves is tantamount to saying that the truth has no It doesn’t matter.” One thing is certain: these modifications will have a significant impact on the circulation of information on Meta platforms, which have billions of users around the world.
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