In the video published on his profile, Mark Zuckerberg he speaks of a “return to the origins”, almost as if he wanted to prevent criticism with a romantic reference to the primordial gods social mediawhen Internet it was still a free and wild continent. The radical decision of Half to abolish the fact-checking on its platforms, Facebook And Instagram first of all, it is only the company’s latest move, certainly the most sensational, to get closer to the requests of Donald Trumpready to resettle at White House. The control carried out by third-party organizations (including the agency France Presse and, in Italy, Political report card) on the veracity of the news published on the group’s social networks will instead be replaced by community notes similar to those used on Xor from interventions by other users who correct or contextualize the controversial post. It is not clear whether, as is the case now, messages deemed unreliable will be penalized by thealgorithm.
«We will get rid of the fact-checker who have been too politically aligned and have destroyed more trust than they have created, especially in United States», explained Zuckerberg in the message with which he announced the revolution, which will initially be limited to the United States. Half has long been a target of Republicanswho accused it of favoring progressive narratives and censoring conservatives, a bias confirmed several times by former employees. And it’s the same Zuckerberg to admit that «the latest elections seem like a cultural turning point that, once again, gives priority to expression». Even the division trust and safety will be transferred from the progressive California to the Republican stronghold of Texasfor this purpose, underlines the founder of Facebook«to help us have confidence in carrying out this work in places where there is less concern about the orientation of our teams». Not only that: political content will be less penalized in noticeboards of members, who will actually have the possibility to choose how much to use it. (AGI)
Musk on stopping fact-checking: “Cool”
“Fig”. This is Elon Musk’s comment on his X profile following the news that Meta will eliminate the fact-checking system based on independent and certified partners to replace it with one based on user contributions.
Approach to Trump and New Appointments
The farewell to fact-checking it is the last stage of the approach march of Zuckerberg to Trumpwhich had been banned from the platform after the insurrection of Capitol Hill of 6 January 2021 and then readmitted in 2023. Last November Zuckerberg had dined with the president-elect at his resort in Mar-a-Lago and later donated a million dollars to its inauguration fund.
The desire for reconciliation has been even more explicit in the recent appointments to the top management of Half. Last week the Republican Joel Kaplanformer chief of staff of White House at the time of the presidency of Bush sonhad been appointed head of Global Affairs instead of the liberal Nick Cleggformer British Deputy Prime Minister. «Too much harmless content is censored, too many people are mistakenly locked up inFacebook prison‘” Kaplan said in a statement after his appointment, asserting that the moderation mechanisms of Menlo Park had gone “too far”. Nothing could be more ironic if you consider that i fact-checker were recruited by Zuckerberg precisely in 2016, immediately after the election of Trump which many believed was influenced by the spread of fake news on social networks.
However, yesterday’s news was the inclusion in the board of directors of Half of a personal friend of Trump, Dana Whitepresident ofUltimate Fighting Championship.
Criticism of the European Union
The search for harmony with the tycoon also appears evident in the attack onEuropean Union contained in the video, in which Zuckerberg he denounced “the growing number of laws that institutionalize censorship and make it difficult to build something innovative there.” The attack on the norms of Brussels who threaten the platforms with fines if they do not maintain rigor in moderation echoes, albeit with less virulent tones, the barbs launched several times by the patron of X, Elon Muskagainst the community institutions. On the contrary, Zuckerberg he promised that Half «He will work with the president Trump to counter foreign governments targeting American companies for more censorship.”
The forty-year-old entrepreneur couldn’t have chosen a better time to show himself as a champion of free thought. Just these days Musk he is in fact accused by many hard and pure Trumpists, as Laura Loomerof having censored criticism against the plan, supported by the head of SpaceXto open up the immigration of thousands of engineers and specialized technicians fromIndia.