Zuckerberg and Meta bow to Trump

Meta has decided to discontinue its fact-checking program on its social networking platforms.

With this decision, the company seems to be aligning itself with the example set by X, renouncing the need to verify information disseminated and choosing to transfer this responsibility to its community, via annotations or corrections.

Breaking News: Meta said it would end its fact-checking program and rely instead on Facebook and Instagram users to add notes or corrections to posts. The move is likely to please the incoming Trump administration and its conservative allies.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-01-07T13:07:24.664Z

Until now, misinformation on Facebook, Instagram and Threads has been moderated by the company.

Zuckerberg tried to justify his decision by declaring that it was time to “get back to our free speech roots” and claiming that his company was making “too many mistakes and exercising too much censorship”.

This sudden change seems to be a direct response to Trump’s arrival at the presidency, especially as Meta has recently integrated several influential figures close to Trump into its ranks.

Mark Zuckerberg, through his company Meta, also recently donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund for his inauguration scheduled for January 20.

This initiative is part of a series of actions aimed at strengthening ties between Meta and the Trump administration. These include the appointment of Dana White, president of the UFC and close to Trump, to Meta’s board of directors, and the promotion of Joel Kaplan, an influential Republican, to director of global policy.

These decisions reflect a clear desire by Meta and Zuckerberg to align themselves more closely with the Trump administration.

Zuckerberg also acknowledged that this regulatory change would likely lead to an increase in “problematic content” on its platforms, while claiming that it would “reduce the number of innocent posts and accounts deleted by mistake”.

The move comes as Republicans, including Kaplan, recently appointed to Meta, accuse social networks and fact-checking sites of political bias.