Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Bows to President-Elect Trump, Eases Policies on Misinformation and Hate Speech
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plans to shut down its fact-checking program, which has been running for nine years, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced. This program used outside experts to check viral rumors and conspiracy theories. Meta is also loosening rules on political speech, hate speech, and other sensitive topics. Before, users couldn’t post harmful comments about someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation. Now, according to Wired, users will be allowed to call women “property,” refer to transgender and non-binary people as “it,” and say that gay people are “mentally ill.”
“The recent elections … feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in a Tuesday statement. “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
Meta’s announcement surprised fact-checkers, misinformation experts, and civil rights groups, though it may not have been unexpected. Complaints about social media censorship have been a common issue for right-wing groups since 2016, and Meta will likely face more pressure over its content rules during Trump’s second term. The company is also dealing with a major antitrust lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, filed during Trump’s first term, scheduled for trial in April.
Trump has called fact-checkers biased and unfair, accused Meta of silencing conservatives, and even said Zuckerberg should go to jail for election interference. During a news conference on Tuesday, the president-elect said Meta had “come a long way” with its recent changes. When asked if he thought Zuckerberg’s shift was because of his past threats, Trump replied, “Probably, yeah.”
Despite what conservatives may think about social media “censorship,” there is little proof that fact-checkers or platforms have purposely blocked right-wing content. A study from October in the journal Nature found that Facebook deletes more posts from conservative accounts, but only because those accounts share more false information. Zuckerberg even admitted that Meta’s new policy changes could lead to more “bad stuff” appearing in people’s feeds. This is similar to what happened on X (formerly Twitter) when Trump’s friend Elon Musk cut the platform’s fact-checking and content moderation teams.
In today’s political climate, X is seen less as a warning and more as a model to follow. Joel Kaplan, Meta’s new Republican head of global policy, was on Fox & Friends just yesterday, praising Musk as a social media free-speech expert.
Kaplan isn’t the only conservative gaining power at Meta. On Monday, Meta’s board added Dana White, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a friend and supporter of Trump. Some Meta employees were reportedly upset and criticized White on an internal message board. However, 404 Media reported that despite Meta’s public support for “expression,” the company quickly and mysteriously deleted those comments.
