Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Threads, and Instagram announced on Tuesday that it has given up on using independent fact checkers on its networks, and did so on the notoriously anti-fact Fox News Channel.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s president of global affairs, appeared on “Fox & Friends,” which has been Donald Trump’s preferred show on the network to spread disinformation, to make the announcement. Kaplan said that Trump’s recent election win had provided the spark for the company to get rid of the fact-checking program it had once used.
YouTube Video
“We’ve got a real opportunity now, we’ve got a new administration and a new president coming in who are big defenders of free expression, and that makes a difference,” Kaplan said. “One of the things we’ve experienced is that when you have a U.S. president and administration that’s pushing for censorship, it just makes it open season for other governments around the world that don’t even have the protections of the First Amendment to really put pressure on U.S. companies. We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on that kind of thing around the world.”
Kaplan is a former Republican operative and served in the administration of George W. Bush. Within Facebook, he reportedly opposed efforts to shut down accounts that were serving up conservative-leaning fake news to users.
The Fox News exclusive was paired with a video released by Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing the anti-fact pivot.
“The fact checkers have been too politically biased,” Zuckerberg said, echoing criticisms that conservatives have made in the past. Zuckerberg chalked the bias up to location, and said the company would move its content moderation team from California to Texas.
“We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” Zuckerberg added.
Zuckerberg said that instead of independent fact checkers, Meta would now adopt its own version of the “community notes” feature used on Elon Musk’s X, where individuals post corrections and they are voted on. But in practice, very few users see these notes, which are easily manipulated, and they are published after misinformation has been widely circulated.
Meta’s announcement that it is pursuing the same model to deal with misinformation as Musk likely means that the company’s platforms will be awash with lies, bigotry, and other content that misinforms the public.
Over the course of the last election, X was the source of made-up stories (often promoted by Musk himself) that favored the conservative/Republican point of view.
The Meta announcement not only appeared on one of the most pro-Trump venues around but comes after the company donated to Trump’s inaugural committee and after Zuckerberg paid homage to Trump with a visit to Mar-a-Lago. The company’s anti-fact approach echoes the actions of other media executives like Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who have taken recent actions to shape coverage in favor of Trump and Republicans.
Meta citing Trump as a free speech champion in its announcements makes even less sense. Trump has for years attacked news outlets for accurately reporting on him and his administration. Trump is currently suing multiple outlets and even a pollster for covering him during the election.
Ditching fact checking is the most Trump-like behavior that Meta could embrace and is another sign that tech and media leaders are lining up behind the incoming administration and against an informed public.
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