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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that the company will end its third-party fact-checking programme and move to a so-called community notes model.
“We’re going to get back to our roots, and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Politico quoted Zuckerberg as saying in a video statement on Meta’s corporate website.
“More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the US,” he added.
The company has no plans to end fact-checking in the EU, the company told Politico, and will review its EU content moderation obligations before making changes.
The decision comes as Meta and other tech giants seek to align with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Meta has appointed a longtime Republican to oversee global policy and brought on Trump ally Dana White as a board member.
Brendan Carr, Trump’s nominee for the Federal Communications Commission, reacted to Zuckerberg’s announcement on X with a meme featuring actor Jack Nicholson nodding approvingly. Carr has vowed to dismantle what he calls the “censorship cartel” of Big Tech, reported Politico.
Facebook initiated its fact-checking program with external partners in December 2016, following criticism of its impact on Trump’s first election victory.
Other platforms like Twitter also utilized outside fact-checkers until Elon Musk’s acquisition in 2022, after which the site allowed users to add community notes to viral posts instead.
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