Meta Removes Third-Party Fact Checkers Over ‘Bias’ Fears

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that third-party fact-checking programs will be replaced in “community notes” on Facebook and Instagram to help eliminate bias.

“The fact checkers were too politically biased and destroyed more trust than they created,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. video post on Facebook who announced the changes. “What started as a movement for a more inclusive movement has increasingly been used to suppress voices and people with different ideas, and it has gone too far.”

Community notes will likely be similar to the system currently used by X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. However, as noted, removing fact checkers may result in some harmful content, something Zuckerberg has also acknowledged.

“From Mark Zuckerberg’s many visits to various congressional hearings, we have seen that he is a well-spoken businessman who can say all the right things,” said Susan Campbell, distinguished lecturer in the department of communications, film and media studies at New York University. Haven.

“This ability has allowed him and other tech executives to continue making money while pumping poison into our information bloodstream. It’s hard to see why removing the tiny fences that have been put in place at the Meta is a good business model, even though we should all acknowledge that Zuckerberg and others didn’t get where they did by making stupid business decisions,” she added. “If this is a smart business decision, then I don’t see how to do it. This is definitely the wrong decision if you want your company to serve the public good.”

Technology industry analyst Susan Schreiner of C4 Trends also warned that removing fact checkers could make the platform less secure for most of its users.

“In declaring universal freedom of speech, did anyone even think about the tragedies that would follow? Who will be responsible for future obligations,” Schreiner noted. “Perhaps the move is a sign that the pendulum has swung from more regulated curation during the pandemic to the other extreme. Let’s wait and see what happens next.”

A request for comment has been sent to Meta.

Appeasing the new administration?

The timing – which comes just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House – is seen as an attempt to appease the new administration, especially since right-wing voices have alleged censorship over the past four years. on Meta platforms. Others have gone further and even claimed that Facebook helped “steal” the 2020 election.

The removal of fact checkers is a major shift from 2021, when the social network shut down “Group “Stop the Steal” after it continued to spread lies about the election, and then then-President Trump removed from office following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building.

“In recent months, Donald Trump has said, ‘I think Facebook is the enemy of the people,’ and threatened Zuckerberg that ‘if he does anything illegal this time, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison,’ referring to the 2024 Election.” explained Rob LalkaProfessor at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and author of the book Venture alchemists: how big tech companies turned profit into powerr.

“It’s clear that Zuckerberg has realized he needs to get on the Trump train as the new administration takes office, and he’s doing it quickly,” Lalka continued. “These changes matter, but Zuckerberg’s changes to Meta’s approach to content across Facebook, Instagram and Threads announced today represent a dramatic transformation that will change people’s experience of their online lives.”

The first major policy change might be to eliminate fact checks and instead adopt community notes. This may not be the last, but it may be the most controversial change to hit the platform.

“It’s hard to trust a move to ‘restore free speech’ based on a $1 million donation to an administration working to align policies with what X is doing, given the ideological closeness between Zuckerberg and Trump,” said Dr. Lisa Stromanclinical psychologist, lawyer and author.

“Ultimately, removing these third-party moderators may or may not be a good idea, depending on how it is implemented,” added Stroman, who served as an expert witness in the multidistrict federal lawsuit against Google. Meta, TikTok, SnapChat and Bytedance. .

She warned there remained a risk of simplifying policies without protecting users from harmful content, but said it illustrated the delicate balance between freedom of expression and harm.

“Zuckerberg’s comments that moderators did more harm than good, citing a ‘lack of trust,’ illustrate the natural problem of bias that arises with human moderators in the space,” Stroman said.

Transfer of blame

What’s more, by singling out “political speech” as one that specifically shouldn’t be edited, it may try to become a truce or a peace offering rather than a corporate shift in which the founder reconciles his place in history and makes amends, Stroman acknowledged.

“Ultimately, this will return control to users and provide greater autonomy as it removes oversight from third parties, but it can also create silos where only certain points of view are heard, reinforcing extreme ideologies and deepening social divisions.” , Stroman further warned.

Social media platforms have fought any attempts at regulation and have instead adopted policies to suit the demands of those in charge. So, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Meta change course again as the Biden era comes to an end and Trump’s second act is about to begin.

“By directly crediting Elon Musk’s company policies for announcing these changes, and by claiming that the Biden administration enforced previous censorship, and now directly blaming ‘legacy media,’ Mark Zuckerberg is trying to reinvent himself for a new era—the Trump era.” – said Lalka.

However, while this may seem like good business for Meta for at least the next four years, these recent changes are likely to have long-term consequences.

“Even Zuckerberg admitted today: ‘This means we’ll catch less bad stuff,'” Lalka continued. “Future historians will take note.”