By ending his fact-checking program in the United States, Mark Zuckerberg illustrates the desire and even the eagerness of certain big tech bosses to align themselves with the conservative tandem formed by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
“We are returning to our roots”asserted Tuesday the boss of Meta, who has always refused to consider his company as a press company subject to specific constraints in terms of content, preferring to describe it as a distribution network (“utility”).
No major boss of an American technology company has until now expressed such frank support for the radical concept of freedom of expression defended by the elected president and his inseparable multi-billionaire ally, hostile to any regulation.
If Donald Trump does not hesitate to attack the media for publications that displease him, he does however plead for a free circulation of content from his supporters on social networks, amplifying his anti-migrant rhetoric, hostile to transgender people or threatening to his opponents. policies.
“For all of us who have been leading the fight for freedom of expression for years, this feels like a major victory and a turning point”welcomed on X David Sacks, businessman and future advisor to Donald Trump in artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies.
This close friend of Elon Musk welcomed the fact that Meta had “corrected its trajectory”. “Thank you President Trump for creating this political and cultural realignment”he wrote.
“It makes perfect sense to approach this (Meta) decision from a political angle”comments Ethan Zuckerman, professor of public policy, communication and information at the University of Massachusetts, to AFP.
“Difficult, expensive and controversial”
He recalls that the company has also just welcomed Dana White, combat sports personality and supporter of Donald Trump, to its board of directors.
Combination of photos created on January 7, 2025 showing Mark Zuckerberg under the sign of his company Meta / Drew ANGERER / AFP
“But it is also a decision that serves Zuckerberg’s financial goals: fact-checking is a difficult, expensive and controversial activity”notes this researcher, who recently sued Meta over the functioning of Facebook’s algorithm.
“Political parties like social media thrive when there are divisions, so it’s not very surprising (that a company) like Meta would shy away from fact-checking”notes Wendy Schiller, professor of political science at Brown University.
Other big names in the sector have already demonstrated, more discreetly, their desire to cooperate with the future Trump administration, at the end of a Biden mandate marked by an often harsh tone towards tech companies, accused of allowing disinformation to proliferate. and hate speech.
Donald Trump intends to attack these companies and the media in general, he who has repeatedly raged against social networks, in particular after being temporarily banned from Facebook and Twitter, before the latter was bought by Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, the president-elect estimated that the boss of Meta had ” probably “ reacted to threats he had made against him.
“Censorship Cartel”
The Republican chose Brendan Carr, a supporter of deregulation of the technology sector, to lead the powerful federal communications agency, the FCC.
On November 15, Brendan Carr called on “dismantle the censorship cartel” formed according to him by “Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others”.
A few days ago, press cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced that she had resigned from the Washington Post, due to management’s rejection of a caricature in which she criticized the daily’s owner, Jeff Bezos, also head of Amazon, for having sought to “curry the favors of Donald Trump”.
Like Mark Zuckerberg, the heads of Google, Amazon and Apple went to meet the Republican at Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Florida.
Donations are also pouring in from the technology sector to finance receptions given on the occasion of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
Among them, Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, who said at the beginning of December that he “the fairly deep conviction that Elon (Musk) was going to make the right choices”.
The boss of X, SpaceX and Tesla has emerged in recent months as a heavyweight within the Trumpist sphere, and even beyond, after being very actively involved in the campaign of the former and now future Republican president.
“It’s cool”he commented after the announcement from Mark Zuckerberg, with whom he has a stormy relationship.
