Zuckerberg shows goodwill towards the Trump administration, Meta platform (META.US) terminates fact-checking project.

Meta platform (META.US) announced that it will terminate its third-party fact-checking program and instead adopt a user-generated community annotation model. This program will first be implemented in the United States, replacing the fact-checking services previously conducted by independent third parties. Meta stated that this decision is made to address issues caused by biases of fact-checkers and excessive content being fact-checked. Previously, conservative individuals in the United States had criticized Meta for censoring or restricting conservative content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that this adjustment was partly influenced by political factors such as Donald Trump winning the 2024 US presidential election. This is the largest reform in recent years of Meta's approach to managing political content on its services. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has expressed his desire to mend relationships with the new government. These changes will affect Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, the three major social media platforms with over 3 billion users globally. Last week, Meta promoted Republican policy executive Joel Kaplan to Chief Global Affairs Officer and announced on Monday the election of UFC CEO and close friend of Trump, Dana White, to join the board of directors. Zuckerberg stated in a video, "We've come to a point where there have been too many mistakes and too much censorship. It's time to return to the roots of freedom of speech." He admitted that recent US elections played a role in his thinking, describing it as a "cultural turning point putting speech back in the forefront." When asked about these changes at a press conference, Trump welcomed them. "Meta has made a lot of progress. Zuckerberg is a very impressive person," he said. When asked if he believed Zuckerberg was responding to a threat against him, Trump said, "Possibly." Zuckerberg has no plans to implement a formal fact-checking process to address suspicious statements posted on the Meta platform and instead plans to implement a "Community Notes" system similar to that used by Elon Musk's social media platform X. Zuckerberg stated that Meta will also stop actively scanning hate speech and other types of violations, and will only review these posts based on user reports. Meta's automated systems will focus on removing "severe violations" such as terrorism, child exploitation, fraud, and drugs. He added that the team responsible for content policy development and review will be moved from California to Texas and other areas in the United States. An insider revealed that Meta has been working for over a year to get rid of fact-checking. Another source stated that most content moderation for Meta in the United States is already done outside of California. Caught off guard The termination of the fact-checking project, launched in 2016, caught collaborating organizations off guard. AFP said, "Like everyone else today, we learned about this news. This is a heavy blow for the fact-checking community and the news industry. We are assessing the situation." Angie Drobnic Holan, head of the International Fact-Checking Network, questioned Zuckerberg's description of the network members as biased or nitpicking. In a statement, she said, "Fact-checking news never reviews or deletes posts; it adds information and context to disputed claims and debunks false content and conspiracies." Gannett Co., Inc. Chief Content Officer Kristen Roberts stated, "Truth and facts serve everyone - not just the right or the left - and that is what we will continue to deliver."