Zuckerberg promises less censorship, respecting users’ voices.
Meta’s policy change is aligned with Trump’s inauguration.
Social media giant Meta announced today that it has decided to end its fact-checking policy for posts circulating on Instagram and Facebook. The information was released by the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, thus committing to freedom of expression, just when there are just a few days left until Donald Trump’s inauguration as the new president of the United States.
“We are going to eliminate fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to those of X (formerly Twitter), starting in the United States,” noted Mark Zuckerberg.
The founder of Meta emphasized that «it’s time to return to our roots around free expression and give people a voice on our platforms. He said this because he also pledged to simplify content policies and remove restrictions on contentious issues such as immigration and gender, which he believes are out of touch with mainstream discourse.
“We are changing the way we enforce our policies to eliminate the vast majority of censorship errors, focusing our filters on addressing illegal and high-severity violations and requiring greater trust for our filters to take action.”
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta.
The defense of freedom of expression wins battles
The announcement comes four months after Zuckerberg himself confessed in a letter to the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives that he received pressure from the government for Facebook to censor content related to Covid in 2021, as reported by CriptoNoticias. “I think the government’s pressure was wrong and I regret that we have not been more frank,” the manager said at the time.
In August of last year The debate on the protection of freedom of expression ignited and the digital rights of social network users. It happened when Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France. Apparently, Telegram has been under the supervision of the authorities for maintaining a commitment to never reveal information about its users and maintaining secret chats for the community to express themselves.
Telegram has protected itself from the strict moderation laws that have been instituted in many Western countries, where large platforms are pressured to remove supposedly illegal content. Likewise, Elon Musk has declared himself a fighter for freedom of expression and now Zuckerberg joins the movement by pointing out: “I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.”
On his company blog, Zuckerberg points out that the result of The elections last November, which returned Trump to power, represent a “cultural turning point.” So his policy change represents a transformation in the social landscape and a desire to embrace freedom of expression.
Zuckerberg’s statements are widely commented on social networks by the Bitcoin community, defenders of freedom. «Once again, the voice of the people is finally heard», comments Anthony Pomplianoa recognized figure in the cryptocurrency space.
