Meta fact-checks policy change ahead of Trump administration by Reuters

Written by Katie Paul, Supantha Mukherjee and Deborah Marie Sophia

(Reuters) – Social media company Meta Platforms (Nasdaq) on Tuesday canceled its U.S. fact-checking program and reduced restrictions on discussions on controversial topics such as immigration and gender identity, bowing to criticism from conservatives as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Taking office for the second time.

The move is Meta’s biggest overhaul of its approach to moderating political content on its services in recent memory, and comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has signaled his desire to mend relations with the incoming administration.

The changes will affect Facebook, Instagram and Threads, three of the world’s largest social media platforms with more than 3 billion users globally.

Last week, Meta named Joel Kaplan, a Republican policy executive, president of global affairs, and announced Monday that it had elected Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and a close friend of Trump, to its board.

“We’ve reached a point where there’s a lot of error and a lot of censorship. It’s time to go back to our roots around freedom of expression,” Zuckerberg said in a video.

He acknowledged the role of the recent US elections in his thinking, saying that it “seems like a cultural turning point, towards once again prioritizing expression.”

Instead of a formal fact-checking program to address questionable claims posted on meta platforms, Zuckerberg instead plans to implement a “community feedback” system similar to that used at Elon Musk’s X.

Zuckerberg said Meta will also focus its automated systems on removing “high-risk violations” and illegal content such as terrorism and illegal drugs. It will stop proactively checking for hate speech and other types of rule violations, and will only review these posts in response to user reports.

He added that the company will move the safety teams that oversee and review content policies out of California, including to Texas.

A Meta spokesman declined to specify which specific teams will move to Texas and whether any will move elsewhere. The spokesperson also declined to cite examples of errors or bias on the part of fact-checkers.

‘comes as a shock’

The demise of the fact-checking program, which began in 2016, caught partner organizations by surprise.

“We didn’t know this was going to happen, and it’s a shock to us,” said Jesse Stiller, managing editor at Check Your Fact. “This will definitely affect us.”

The president of the International Fact-Checking Network, Angie Drobnik-Holan, took issue with Zuckerberg’s description of its members as biased or censorious.

“Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it has added information and context to controversial claims, and has exposed deceptive content and conspiracies. The fact-checkers employed by Meta follow a code of principles that requires impartiality and transparency,” she said in a statement. statement.

“Truth and facts serve everyone — not the right or the left — and that’s what we will continue to deliver,” said Christine Roberts, chief content officer at Gannett Media.

“We learned about the news like everyone else today. It is a huge blow to the fact-checking and journalism community. We are assessing the situation,” AFP said in an emailed response to Reuters via email.

The other partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Reuters declined to comment. Meta’s independent oversight board welcomed the move.

Zuckerberg in recent months has expressed regret about some of his content moderation measures on topics including the coronavirus (COVID-19). Meta also donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, in a departure from her previous practices.

“This is a huge step back in terms of content moderation at a time when misinformation and harmful content is evolving faster than ever,” said Ross Perley, co-founder of the nonprofit Center for Information Resilience.

“This move appears to be more about political appeasement than smart policy.”

A company spokesperson told Reuters that Meta is currently only planning changes in the US market, with no immediate plans to end the fact-checking program in places like the European Union which takes a more active approach to regulating tech companies.

“They’ve come a long way – dead. The guy (Zuckerberg) was very impressive,” Trump said when asked about the company’s plan to end fact-checking.

He added that Zuckerberg may have been responding to threats directed at him.

Musk’s

The Commission launched its investigation in December 2023, several months after X launched the feature. A Commission spokesman said it took note of Meta’s announcement and continues to monitor the company’s compliance in the EU.

The EU Digital Services Act comes into force in 2023 and requires very large online platforms like X and Facebook to tackle illegal content and risks to public security.

The law imposes rules on content moderation, user privacy and transparency. Any company found in violation faces a fine of up to 6% of its global revenue.

Meta said it will begin implementing Community Notes in the US over the next couple of months and improve the model over the course of the year.

It will allow users to call out posts that may be misleading and need more context, rather than putting the onus on independent fact-checking organizations and experts.

Meta said it will not get involved in adding community feedback to posts on its platforms.