Mark Zuckerberg to lay off third-party fact-checking. Image: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
(The Post News)- Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that he plans to eliminate the third-party fact-checking program from Facebook and Instagram.
This is a racial departure from the traditional content moderation strategy. The strategy was introduced in 2016, where Meta collaborated with 80 organizations globally to verify claims across its platforms.
The aim of the strategy was to combat misinformation. However, to Zuckerberg’s demise, the policy minimized freedom of expression and increased misinformation.
Zuckerberg has been a target of Trump and his allies since he donated $400 million to assist local officials in the 2020 elections. Those donations have since contributed to a false narrative that the coronavirus pandemic elections were rigged against Trump.
Although there has never been any evidence of malpractice during the elections, Republican-controlled states have banned potential donations to local election offices.
To counteract the growing criticism of Meta’s politically biased fact-checking processes, a new strategy has been formed. The transition to community notes will empower users to provide context and insights on posts that may contain misleading information.
He stated that beginning in the United States, they will replace fact-checkers with community notes identical to X. He further added that the traditional media wrote on the dangers of disinformation to democracy. These unfortunate incidents occurred nonstop after Trump was elected president in 2016. They made a sincere effort to address those issues without assuming the role of truth-seizers.
Third-party-fact-checking to be eliminated
According to Zuckerberg, the 2024 presidential election felt like a cultural turning point towards prioritizing speech once more. Hence, they are turning their attention and focusing on eliminating errors, clarifying their regulations, and restoring free expression on their platforms.
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