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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s new free speech policy comes after Facebook’s social media platform faces “censorship” allegations and years of conflict with Congress over regulating political information. suggests a major shift in content management strategy.
“We’re going back to basics and focused on reducing mistakes, simplifying policies, and restoring freedom of expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. “More specifically, we plan to remove fact checkers from the US and replace them with community notes similar to X.”
Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook, Instagram, Meta ends fact-checking program
From left: Discord CEO Jason Citron, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chu, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He will be sworn in at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Capitol on January 31, 2024, and will discuss: child safety. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Seneta, File)
Mr. Zuckerberg’s shift in content moderation comes at a time when he has been heavily criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill.
In January 2024, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) confronted Mr. Zuckerberg in a heated exchange about the negative impact social media has on users, especially young girls. The inquiry follows the revelation of an internal meta-study showing that within just one week, a significant number of teenage girls were exposed to harmful content including unwanted nudity, sexual advances and content promoting self-harm. It was carried out following.
“So you took no action, you didn’t fire anyone, you didn’t compensate a single victim. Let me hear this. The families of the victims are here today. Have you apologized to the victim? Do you want to apologize now?” Hawley said, drawing applause from the audience.
In response, Zuckerberg rose from his seat and addressed the crowd directly, saying: “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through. No one should have to go through what your family has gone through.” .
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PoltiFact executives slammed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for announcing the end of fact-checking on the social media platform. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Zuckerberg added: “This is why we’ve made this significant investment, and why we continue to strive to lead the industry. [one has] To experience what your family had to suffer. ”
At the same hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a scathing rebuke of the tech giants’ CEOs.
“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us. I know you don’t mean it, but you have blood on your hands,” Graham said. “The product you have developed will kill or injure people.”
Graham’s comments came in the wake of South Carolina Congressman Brandon Guffey’s lawsuit against Instagram following the suicide of his 17-year-old son, Gavin. Gavin took his own life after becoming the victim of an extortion plot by a group operating through an app owned by Meta.
In 2018, then-Congress members blasted Mr. Zuckerberg for failing to protect the personal information of the site’s 87 million users. Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook from his Harvard dorm room in 2004, said in a Facebook post at the time: “Looking back, I realized that we were too late to identify election interference in 2016. It’s clear that we need to do better in future elections.” ”
In November 2020, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Zuckerberg both appeared in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee entitled “Breaking News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election.” is. The session focused on controversial content moderation decisions by the tech giants, including suppressing a New York Post article about Hunter Biden weeks before the presidential election.
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Human Rights President and CEO Maya Wiley and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attend the AI Insights Forum at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on September 13, 2023. . (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Testifying remotely, both CEOs acknowledged their mistakes and outlined how they will address similar challenges in the future. Zuckerberg highlighted Facebook’s extensive voting efforts, calling it “the largest voting information campaign in American history.” He said more than 140 million people accessed Facebook and Instagram’s voting information centers, with 33 million on Election Day alone. The campaign reportedly helped 4.5 million people register to vote.
To combat misinformation and voter suppression, Mr. Zuckerberg is working with election officials, removing false claims, and implementing warnings that apply to more than 150 million pieces of content vetted by independent fact-checkers. The measures were explained in detail. According to Zuckerberg’s testimony, Facebook also used “explicit or implicit misrepresentations about how and when to vote and threats related to COVID-19 to scare people.” It also implemented a policy that prohibits attempts to prevent people from voting.
Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was introduced after the 2016 election and has been used primarily to “moderate content” and control misinformation on the platform due to “political pressure,” executives said. said, but admitted that the system had gone “too far.” ”
Last year, Zuckerberg acknowledged in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee that he felt pressured by the Biden administration, particularly regarding content related to the coronavirus, as well as topics such as satire and humor.
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“The problem is that as American companies, other governments around the world who don’t have our traditions or the First Amendment see the US government pressuring American companies to take down content. , it’s open season for them, so the government should put more pressure on them. [on their companies]”We see this as a real opportunity to work with the Trump administration to address freedom of expression domestically,” said Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief international affairs officer.
“President Trump has always been a champion of free speech, and his landslide victory will end the Biden administration’s era of repressive censorship,” Liz Houston, Trump Vance transition press secretary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. has come to an end.”
He added: “President Trump’s return to the White House is a signal to the American people that their fundamental right to free speech is safe again.”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Adonis Hoffman contributed to this report.
Jamie Joseph is a political writer. She leads Fox News Digital’s Senate coverage.
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