On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that the social media giant will remove the “fact-checkers” from Facebook and Instagram, halting the censorship of free speech for millions of Americans.
“We’re going back to our roots by focusing on minimizing errors, simplifying our policies, and reinstating free expression across our platforms,” Zuckerberg stated in a video message released on Tuesday. “More specifically, we will be eliminating fact-checkers and implementing community notes similar to those on X, starting in the U.S.”
Zuckerberg pointed out that following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, traditional media outlets warned of the dangers of “misinformation” to democracy. Consequently, he explained that Meta attempted to address these concerns without becoming the ultimate authority on truth. Nonetheless, he acknowledged, “The fact-checkers have proven to be overly politically biased, eroding more trust than they have built, particularly in the U.S.”
“The recent elections seem to represent a cultural turning point towards emphasizing speech once again,” Zuckerberg added in his video message on Tuesday. “Thus, we’ll return to our roots and aim to lessen errors, streamline our policies, and restore free expression on our platforms.”
Zuckerberg highlighted that what commenced as a campaign for greater inclusivity has “gradually been wielded to suppress differing opinions and silence those with alternative viewpoints.” The Meta CEO also admitted that Meta’s policies regarding content moderation and fact-checking have led to excessive “errors,” resulting in the censorship of numerous social media users.
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Looking ahead, Zuckerberg mentioned that Meta will focus on eliminating “illegal and high-severity violations,” while awaiting reports on “lower-severity violations” before Facebook and Instagram decide to “take action.”
The Post Millennial reported that Zuckerberg, who recently met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago, hinted that Meta will “collaborate with President Trump to challenge governments worldwide that are targeting American companies and advocating for increased censorship.”
After Meta’s announcement regarding the end of free speech censorship, Trump remarked to Fox News that Meta’s “presentation was excellent,” emphasizing that the company has “made significant progress.”