Meta to replace ‘biased’ fact-checkers with moderation by users | Global News Avenue

Meta is ditching standalone fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes” where comments on a post’s accuracy are left up to users.

In the video posted next to a blog post On Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said third-party reviewers were “too politically biased” and “it’s time to return to our roots of free speech.”

Joel Kaplan, who Successor from Sir Nick Clegg Meta’s head of global affairs wrote that the company’s reliance on independent moderators was “well-intentioned” but often led to users being censored.

However, campaigners against online hate speech were dismayed by the change.

“Zuckerberg’s statement is a blatant attempt to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration, which will have harmful consequences,” said Ava Lee of Global Witness, a group that says it seeks to get big companies to Tech companies take responsibility.

She added: “Claims to avoid ‘censorship’ are a political move to avoid accountability for the hate and disinformation that platforms encourage and enable.”

Meta’s current third-party fact-checking program, launched in 2016, submits posts that appear false or misleading to an independent organization to assess their credibility.

Posts flagged as inaccurate by third-party experts can display the label, giving viewers more information about why, and be moved lower in user feeds.

Meta said the migration to the community notes system will be implemented in phases “first in the United States” over the coming months. It did not say when or if it would be introduced elsewhere.

The tech giant said the system has “worked on X” with people with different views agreeing on annotations to add context or clarification to controversial posts.

Yuan It would also “eliminate the mission creep of rules and policies,” the blog post said, emphasizing removing restrictions on topics such as “immigration, gender and gender identity,” which it said have prevented political discussion and debate.

“We are removing a range of restrictions on topics such as immigration, gender identity and gender, which are the subject of frequent political discussion and debate,” the report said.

“Things can be said on television or in the halls of Congress, but not on our platform, and that’s not right.”

The changes come as technology companies and their executives prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump has previously been an outspoken critic of Meta and its content moderation methods, calling Facebook “the enemy of the people” in March 2024.

But Mr Zuckerberg said the relationship between the two men had since improved Dining at Trump’s Florida estate November at Mar-a-Lago.

Meta also donated $1 million Trump’s inaugural fund.

“The recent election also feels like a cultural turning point, once again prioritizing free speech,” Zuckerberg said in Tuesday’s video.

Mr Caplan replaces Sir Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister, as the company’s head of global affairs, also interpreted by many analysts as a sign of a shift in moderation at the company and its changing political priorities.

Kate Kronick, associate professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law, said the changes reflect a trend that “seems inevitable over the past few years, especially since Musk acquired X.”

“The private governance of speech on these platforms has increasingly become a political focus,” she told BBC News.

She added that companies had previously faced pressure to build trust and safety mechanisms to deal with issues such as harassment, hate speech and disinformation, but there was now a “complete shift in the opposite direction.”