Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes” where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.
In a video posted alongside a blog post by the company on Tuesday, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression”.
Joel Kaplan, who is replacing Sir Nick Clegg as Meta’s head of global affairs, wrote that the company’s reliance on independent moderators was “well-intentioned” but had too often resulted in the censoring of users.
However, campaigners against hate speech online have reacted with dismay – and suggested the changed is really motivated by getting on the right side of Donald Trump.
“Zuckerberg’s announcement is a blatant attempt to cozy up to the incoming Trump administration – with harmful implications”, said Ava Lee, from Global Witness, a campaign group which describes itself as seeking to hold big tech to account.
“Claiming to avoid “censorship” is a political move to avoid taking responsibility for hate and disinformation that platforms encourage and facilitate”, she added.
Emulating X
Meta’s current fact checking programme, introduced in 2016, refers posts that appear to be false or misleading to independent organisations to assess their credibility.
Posts flagged as inaccurate could display labels offering viewers more information on why, and be moved lower in users’ feeds.
That will now be replaced “in the US first” by community notes.
The system – which the tech giant says it has seen “work on X” – involves people of different viewpoints agreeing on notes which add context or clarifications to controversial posts.
Meta has not spelt out when or if the change will be made in other countries – but the UK’s Molly Rose Foundation described the announcement as a “major concern for safety online.”
“We are urgently clarifying the scope of these measures, including whether this will apply to suicide, self-harm and depressive content”, its chairman Ian Russell said.
“These moves could have dire consequences for many children and young adults.”
‘A radical swing’
Meta’s blog post said it would also “undo the mission creep” of rules and policies -highlighting removal of restrictions on subjects including “immigration, gender and gender identity” – saying these have stemmed political discussion and debate.
“It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms”, it said.
The changes come as technology firms and their executives prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
Trump has previously been a vocal critic of Meta and its approach to content moderation, calling Facebook “an enemy of the people” in March 2024.
But relations between the two men have since improved – Mr Zuckerberg dined at Trump’s Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago in November. Meta has also donated $1m to an inauguration fund for Trump.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising free speech,” said Mr Zuckerberg in Tuesday’s video.
Mr Kaplan replacing Sir Nick Clegg – a former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister – as the company’s president of global affairs has also been interpreted as a signal of the firm’s shifting approach to moderation and its changing political priorities.
Kate Klonick, associate professor of law at St John’s University Law School, said the changes reflected a trend “that has seemed inevitable over the last few years, especially since Musk’s takeover of X”.
“The private governance of speech on these platforms has increasingly become a point of politics,” she told BBC News.
Where companies have previously faced pressure to build trust and safety mechanisms to deal with issues like harassment, hate speech, and disinformation, a “radical swing back in the opposite direction” is now underway, she added.
