Meta abruptly ends US fact-checks

Major shift conforms with priorities of Trump

WASHINGTON:

Social media giant Meta on Tuesday slashed its content moderation policies, including ending its US fact-checking program, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming president Donald Trump.

"We're going to get rid of fact-checkers (that) have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US," Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post.

Instead, Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, "would use community notes similar to X (formerly Twitter), starting in the US," he added.

Meta's surprise announcement echoed long-standing complaints made by Trump's Republican Party and X owner Elon Musk about fact-checking that many conservatives see as censorship.

They argue that fact-checking programs disproportionately target right-wing voices, which has led to proposed laws in states like Florida and Texas to limit content moderation.

Zuckerberg said that "recent elections feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech" over moderation.

The shift came as the 40-year-old tycoon has been making efforts to reconcile with Trump since his election in November, including donating one million dollars to his inauguration fund.

Trump has been a harsh critic of Meta and Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him. The Republican was kicked off Facebook following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, though the company restored his account in early 2023.

Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in November in a sign of strengthening ties.

In another recent gesture towards the Trump team, Meta last week named Joel Kaplan, a former Republican official, to head up public affairs at the company, taking over from Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister.

"Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in 'Facebook jail,'" Kaplan said