As if asking aloud “What if we gave the internet MORE power to fact-check itself?” Meta announced Tuesday it’s scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and rolling out a “Community Notes” system. If that sounds suspiciously like Elon Musk’s free-for-all content moderation model on X (née Twitter), well, look at you, paying attention.
The timing of this pivot is impeccable. With Republican President-elect Donald Trump headed to the White House in a matter of days, Mark Zuckerberg is ditching pesky restrictions on posts about immigration, gender, and presumably whatever else might rile up the algorithm. Instead, Zuck is handing the reins to users of literally Facebook.
Zuck claimed in a totally not-awkward video statement that the old fact-checking model was “too politically biased” and caused “more harm than good,” which is a fun way of saying “I’m so tired of being yelled at by everyone.” And just in case the move was too abstruse for some, Meta is going “The Full Rogan,” moving its moderation teams from California to Texas.
But wait, there’s more! Meta’s newly-minted policy czar, Joel Kaplan, former George W. Bush deputy, Scalia clek, and GOP whisperer. will now shape the company’s political agenda. Kaplan is replacing Nick Clegg, whose centrist vibes have apparently expired.
Meta’s newfound Trump lovefest is now in full swing. After lifting the former president’s account restrictions last year, Zuckerberg followed up with a $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural fund. Oh, and UFC boss-slash-Trump stan Dana White just joined Meta’s board, which is the kind of natural fit we can’t believe hasn’t happened already.