On Tuesday, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is abolishing its current external fact-checking – a step in a series of changes to the company's content rules.
"It's time for us to go back to our roots, which are based on freedom of speech on Facebook and Instagram", says Mark Zuckerberg in a video.
Instead, the company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Threads, will switch to a method similar to the one introduced by Elon Musk on X. Meta calls it "community notes" and the method is based on users themselves being responsible for fact-checking.
Musk: Cool
The announcement is welcomed by X-owner Musk, who writes "this is cool" in a post on X.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta has "reached a point" where the current fact-checking leads to too many mistakes and too much censorship.
According to Zuckerberg, the fact-checking, which has been outsourced to external actors, has been too politically biased and the fact-checkers have "destroyed more trust than they have built, especially in the USA".
The company will also simplify its content rules, according to Zuckerberg, who mentions that a number of rules related to immigration and gender issues will be scrapped. According to Zuckerberg, they lack a basis in reality.
Getting closer to Trump
Meta will also recommend more political content on its platforms. The changes will be rolled out gradually, starting in the USA.
Earlier on Tuesday, it was also announced that Dana White, CEO of MMA organization UFC, will become a new member of Meta's board of directors. He has close ties to Donald Trump and campaigned intensively for him in the presidential election.
Mark Zuckerberg has recently sought to get closer to the incoming president. In November, he had dinner with Trump at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. Zuckerberg has also donated approximately eleven million kronor to Trump's so-called inauguration fund.
