The parent company of Facebook and Instagram has announced it's putting an end to its program that restricted free speech and censored messages that its "fact checkers" didn't agree with.
The Meta company is officially scrapping its third-party fact-checking program. Instead, it'll be shifting to a Community Notes model similar to what Elon Musk has used on his social media platform X. That method of accountability allows users to weigh in on the veracity of posts.
Meta is admitting that its third-party fact-checkers had their own biases and too much content ended up being silenced. Critics have said that all the "fact-checking" just ended up becoming a pathway for censorship.
In a post titled "More Speech and Fewer Mistakes," Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan admitted, "...we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable. Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in 'Facebook jail,' and we are often too slow to respond when they do."
Kaplan said the biases of its fact-checkers are a serious problem. "Over time we ended up with too much content being fact checked that people would understand to be legitimate political speech and debate," he said.
And that censorship pressure didn't just come from "independent fact-checkers." As CBN News reported last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden White House pressured Facebook and Instagram to censor stories it didn't like.
MORE HERE The New 'Ministries of Truth': The Fast Spreading Global Censorship Movement
Meanwhile, Kaplan says the X model of Community Notes is safer because it empowers more free speech, allowing users "to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context." It allows for more discussion and debate rather than simply silencing questionable content based on the biases of a few alleged "experts."
Brent Bozell, Founder and President of the Media Research Center, posted, "I commend Mark Zuckerberg for doing the right thing and enacting real, meaningful reforms to move Facebook closer to a platform for free speech. I know Mark has long believed that his company should strengthen freedom and democracy around the world. Today, he has taken a giant step toward helping to grow freedom everywhere."
But Justin Giboney, leader of the Christian organization called The AND Campaign, is still critical of Meta despite this latest development.
"Moral of the story: Meta is about maximizing profits. When it was in their best interest to censor, they did. Now that it's not in their best interest, they won't," he posted on X.
Moral of the story: Meta is about maximizing profits. When it was in their best interest to censor, they did. Now that it’s not in their best interest, they won’t. https://t.co/eBmQ4L1Qn9
— Justin Giboney (@JustinEGiboney) January 7, 2025
Zuckerberg seemed to confirm that this decision is partly based on the latest major shift in American politics with the election victory by Donald Trump. “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in an online video.
And Bozell noted, "After his company banned President Donald Trump's accounts — and after racking up 1,725 cases of censorship in our CensorTrack database — today Mark demonstrated real courage by acknowledging his company's past mistakes and outlining, with specificity, how he will do better."
Read Bozell's full statement here:
I commend Mark Zuckerberg for doing the right thing and enacting real, meaningful reforms to move Facebook closer to a platform for free speech. I know Mark has long believed that his company should strengthen freedom and democracy around the world. Today, he has taken a giant…
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) January 7, 2025
Meta will still enforce restrictions on illegal and “high severity violations" like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, and drugs.
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