In a significant change of policy, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company will stop working with independent fact-checkers and lift restrictions on topics such as gender and immigration. The move, communicated through a Facebook video, comes as part of an initiative to ensure free speech across the company’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg cites the most recent election as a cultural tipping point and stresses the company’s return to its roots, focusing on reducing mistakes and simplifying policies. Fact-checkers, in response to claims of their political bias and negative impact on trust, will be replaced with a feature called Community Notes.
The move sees further changes in the moderation of content across Meta’s platforms. The company’s content filters will be dialed back, reducing censorship across the board. Restrictions on discussions concerning contentious topics like immigration and gender will also be lifted, with Zuckerberg asserting that such limitations have stifled inclusive discourse.
Zuckerberger also announced that Meta’s Trust and Safe and Content moderation teams would move from California to Texas. While more political content will be allowed across its platforms, the tech mogul took aim at the Biden administration for pressurising American companies into censorship.
Moving forward, Meta plans to collaborate with President Trump to resist censorship efforts globally, reinforcing U.S constitutional protections for free expression. Significant figures from Trump’s administration have hailed Zuckerberg’s stance, denoting it as a manifestation of the global reform movement Trump spearheads.
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