Meta is abandoning the use of third-party fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in the US and will replace it with X-style “community notes,” where it’s up to users to comment on the accuracy of posts.
In the video published with blog post by the company on Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was “time to get back to our roots around freedom of expression.”
Joel Kaplan, who replaces Sir Nick Clegg as Meta’s head of global affairs, wrote that the company’s reliance on independent moderators was “well-intentioned” but went too far.
“Too much harmless content gets censored,” he wrote, adding that Meta “too often stands in the way of the free expression we want to enable.”
The transition to the community notes system will be rolled out gradually over the coming months in the US.
The system – which Meta says she’s seen “working on X” – sees people of different viewpoints agree on notes that add context or clarification to controversial posts.
The company’s blog post said it would also “undo mission creep” on rules and policies — emphasizing the removal of restrictions on topics including “immigration, gender and gender identity” — saying they had sparked political debate and discussion.
“We are removing a number of restrictions on topics such as immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate,” it said.
“It is not right that things can be said on television or in Congress, but not on our platforms”.
The changes come as tech companies and their executives prepare for the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has previously been a vocal critic of Meta and its approach to content moderation.
He called Facebook “the enemy of the people” in March 2024.
But relations between the two have improved since then – Mr Zuckerberg dined at Trump’s Florida estate at Mar-a-Lago in November.
“The recent election also feels like a cultural tipping point toward re-prioritizing free speech,” Mr. Zuckerberg in a video from Tuesday.
Many analysts also interpreted the fact that Mr. Kaplan was replaced by Sir Nick Clegg – a former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister – as chairman of the company’s global affairs in a sign of a shift in the company’s approach towards moderation and changing political priorities.
In a statement announcing he would step down on January 2, Sir Nick said his successor was “clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”.
