Meta Eliminates Fact-Checking Program, Scaling Back Content Moderation

TNND - January 13, 2025 6:07 am

FILE - Meta's logo can be seen on a sign at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Nov. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Meta is ending its fact-checking program and making other changes to its content moderation policies in a move the company says is in the interest of enhancing free speech online.

Along with ending its fact-checking program, the company said it would be removing some speech restrictions on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Topics like immigration and gender identity that are frequently debated by lawmakers in Washington will see less restrictions moving forward.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the longstanding content moderation policies had strayed too far from their core mission and become overburdensome on users, leading to posts being censored or removed even when they don’t violate the rules.

“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted online last week. “More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”

The move to switch to a Community Notes system follows Elon Musk-owned X, which slashed content moderation and fact-checking staff and policies since the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX leader bought the company. Musk has proclaimed X to be a platform dedicated to free speech and has become a staunch political ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who has railed against social media companies for what he sees as political bias against him and his followers.

Zuckerberg said in the video that fact-checkers had become “too politically biased” and also criticized legacy media companies for their coverage of Trump during his first term in office.

Meta’s changes to its content moderation policies come as Zuckerberg has made other moves to make inroads with the incoming Trump administration. He has had dinner with Trump, donated $1 million to his inaugural fund and added UFC President Dana White, a high-profile Trump ally, to Meta’s board of directors.

The company announced it would be scaling back its moderation policies in a blog post last month over error rates that were too high and infringed on legitimate discourse. On Tuesday, it said it was going to change how it enforces them to reduce the mistakes.

Meta’s blog post said it is going to focus its automated systems on “high-severity violations” like terrorism, child sexual exploitation and scams, and rely on users reporting problematic posts before taking action for less severe violations. The company said its automated system demotes too much content by predicting it might violate standards and is too aggressive in doing so and will be fine-tuned moving forward.

Zuckerberg said Meta’s trust and safety and content moderation teams would be moved from California and U.S. content review shifting to Texas, which would “help remove the concern than biased employees are overly censoring content.”

Meta Eliminates Fact-Checking Program, Scaling Back Content Moderation

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