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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end Facebook’s partnership with third-party fact checkers and ease some content restrictions is potentially “transformative” for the platform. However, the company is unlikely to escape liability, experts said. Currently in ongoing court proceedings.
The update was announced by Zuckerberg, who said in a video that previous content restrictions on Facebook and Instagram, introduced after the 2016 election, were “overreach” and that they were not based on outside facts. He said it allowed too much political bias. Checkers.
He said Meta plans to replace that system with a “community notes” style program similar to the approach taken by social media platform X. Company X is owned by Elon Musk, co-director of the Department of Planned Government Efficiency.
“We’ve reached a point where there are too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said. “The recent elections feel like a cultural tipping point to re-prioritize speech, so we need to go back to our roots, reduce mistakes, simplify policies, and restore freedom of expression on our platforms.” I’m going to focus on that.”
Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook, Instagram, Meta ends fact-checking program
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump praised the news, telling Fox News Digital that he thought Mehta’s presentation was “amazing.” “They’ve come a long way,” Trump said.
Still, it could reduce legal liability for Meta, which has faced a potential multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit in recent months stemming from a privacy scandal involving political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. is low.
In November, the Supreme Court rejected Mehta’s efforts to block the lawsuit and left in place an appeals court ruling that allowed the class action to proceed.
Meth is also the subject of multiple Republican-led investigations in Congress. Republicans on the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government last year investigated Mr. Mehta’s activities and interactions with the federal government and the Biden administration as part of a broader investigation into the censorship allegations.
The platform also came under scrutiny by the House Oversight Committee in August as part of an investigation into allegations that the platform concealed information about the July 13 assassination attempt on President Trump.
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families harmed by unsafe social media during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Taken together, these factors make it unlikely that Meta’s legal problems will be resolved anytime soon, law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“Facebook is now looking ahead to a difficult period,” he said. “Not only do Republicans control both houses of Congress, as well as the White House, but there is a social media lawsuit underway in Texas.”
Moreover, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is also unlikely to be sympathetic to Mehta’s views in any case centered on First Amendment protections and the right to free speech.
While the House investigation and lawsuit brought further details of Mehta’s actions into the public domain, Turley said the discovery process in Missouri v. Biden, which focuses on allegations of political censorship, It is expected that further scrutiny will be carried out.
Meta Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP (via Getty Images)
“This discovery still reveals new details,” Turley said. “As such, Meta knew that details of its censorship program would be revealed in the coming months.”
Still, this “could be a transformative moment,” Turley said.
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“And the partnership with Zuckerberg… [Elon] “Mr. Musk could turn the tide in this battle for free speech, and as one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s most vocal critics, I’m excited for him to join this fight,” Turley said. I welcome it.”
Brianne Depiche is a political reporter for FOX News Digital, covering the 2024 election and other national news.
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