Mark Zuckerberg cancels meta-censorship before Donald Trump returns to the White House

The incoming Trump administration ushers in a new era in social media that sweeps away censorship policies in favor of free community editing promoted by Mr. Trump’s sidekick Elon Musk.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a video Tuesday that he was removing fact-checkers hired for his Facebook and Instagram platforms and leaving it up to users to add information and context.

Mr. Zuckerberg called the November election, which brought Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans to power, a “cultural tipping point toward a new priority on speech.”

Republican lawmakers have criticized and investigated Big Tech censorship under the Biden administration. Mr. Trump, who had been banned from Facebook, will begin his second presidential term on January 20.

“I think they’ve come a long way,” Mr. Trump said when asked about Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement. The president-elect acknowledged his past threats to Facebook over censorship and bias against conservative political speech.

In March, Mr. Trump called Facebook the “enemy of the people” and the company’s shares fell.

In his book “Save America,” published in September, Mr. Trump accuses Mr. Zuckerberg of interfering in the 2020 election. He cited the hundreds of millions of dollars in “Zuckbucks” spent to get out the vote that he said criticism, benefited the Democrats.

“We are monitoring him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison – just like others who cheated in the 2024 presidential election,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Mr. Trump said his threats likely influenced Mr. Zuckerberg’s banning of fact-checkers on Facebook.

Facebook will mirror X by allowing other users to fact-check or moderate content using community ratings. Mr. Musk implemented this policy after purchasing X and taking over the platform in 2022.

Mr. Zuckerberg announced other changes intended to improve free speech on Facebook, including removing restrictions on hot topics such as illegal immigration and transgender issues.

“We have reached a point where there are simply too many errors and too much censorship,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.

He said the company would return to its roots “and focus on reducing our mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free speech on our platforms.”

Facebook was among the top platforms harassed by President Biden’s top aides to censor content related to COVID-19 and politics.

In an August letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Zuckerberg laid out the administration’s coercion strategy, including the FBI’s efforts to persuade social media platforms to remove stories about politically motivated content. damning of the discarded laptop that once belonged to Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. .

Due to the FBI’s warnings, Facebook decided to “temporarily demote” a New York Post article about the laptop’s contents, which the newspaper published days before the 2020 presidential election.

Biden officials have aggressively pushed social media platforms to remove COVID-19 content, Mr. Zuckerberg said in the letter.

Mr. Biden infuriated Facebook executives in July 2021 when he said social media platforms, including Facebook, were “killing people” by allowing “outrageous misinformation” about the coronavirus and vaccines on their platforms .

Meta Global Affairs President Nick Clegg called the White House “cynical and dishonest” in an email sent that day and later released by House investigators.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who has pushed to denounce social media censorship, called Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement “a big step in the right direction.”

The departure of Mr. Clegg, a British liberal and former deputy prime minister, is part of Facebook’s transformation away from censorship of free speech, said Dan Schneider, vice president of the watchdog. conservative monitoring Media Research Center.

Mr. Clegg’s replacement is Joel Kaplan, a senior adviser to President George W. Bush.

“Kaplan is an American who has long fought for constitutional principles and who, I think, has always been uncomfortable with Facebook’s censorship program,” Mr. Schneider said.

Mr. Schneider does not expect tech giant Google to follow Mr. Zuckerberg’s efforts to strengthen free speech. Google and its YouTube subsidiary have been accused of censoring conservative content, and Google employees have donated heavily to Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Facebook’s changes.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s willingness to work with the Trump administration to lift social media censorship significantly reverses the acrimonious relationship between the company and Mr. Trump during his first term. Facebook banned Mr. Trump from the platform for two years, starting after the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.

Mr. Zuckerberg, a mixed martial arts fan, announced Monday that Mr. Trump’s staunch ally, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, would join Meta’s 13-member board of directors.

“We have tremendous opportunities ahead in AI, wearables and the future of social media, and our board will help us realize our vision,” Zuckerberg said.