The looming second Trump administration is ushering in a new era in social media that sweeps aside censorship policies in favor of freewheeling community editing promoted by Mr. Trump’s sidekick, Elon Musk.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a video Tuesday that he was scrapping hired fact-checkers for his Facebook and Instagram platforms and leaving it to users to add information and context.
Mr. Zuckerberg called the November elections, which swept Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans into power, “a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech.”
Republican lawmakers criticized and investigated Big Tech censorship during the Biden administration. Mr. Trump, who was once banned from Facebook, will begin his second presidential term on Jan. 20.
“I think they’ve come a long way,” Mr. Trump said when asked about Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement. The president-elect acknowledged his past threats to Facebook over censorship and bias against conservative political speech.
In March, Mr. Trump labeled Facebook “an enemy of the people,” and the company’s stock plummeted.
In his book “Save America,” released in September, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Zuckerberg of meddling in the 2020 elections. He referred to the hundreds of millions of dollars in “Zuckbucks” spent on getting out the vote that critics say benefited Democrats.
“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Mr. Trump said his threats probably influenced Mr. Zuckerberg’s banishment of Facebook fact-checkers.
Facebook will mirror X in allowing other users to fact-check or moderate content using community notes. Mr. Musk implemented the policy after he bought X and took over the platform in 2022.
Mr. Zuckerberg announced other changes meant to enhance free speech on Facebook, including removing restrictions on hot-button topics such as illegal immigration and transgender issues.
“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.
He said the company will return to its roots “and focus on reducing our mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
Facebook was among the major platforms harassed by President Biden’s top aides to censor content related to COVID-19 and politics.
In an August letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Zuckerberg exposed the administration’s coercion strategy, including FBI efforts to persuade social media platforms to suppress the story about the politically damning contents of the discarded laptop computer once owned by Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Because of FBI warnings, Facebook moved to “temporarily demote” a New York Post article about the laptop’s contents, which the newspaper published days before the 2020 presidential election.
Biden officials aggressively pushed social media platforms to squelch COVID-19 content, Mr. Zuckerberg said in the letter.
Mr. Biden infuriated Facebook executives in July 2021 when he declared that social media platforms, including Facebook, were “killing people” by allowing “outrageous misinformation” about the coronavirus and vaccines on their platforms.
Meta Global Affairs President Nick Clegg called the White House “cynical and dishonest” in an email sent that day and released later by House investigators.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, who has pushed to expose social media censorship, called Mr. Zuckerberg’s announcement “a huge step in the right direction.”
The departure of Mr. Clegg, a British liberal and former deputy prime minister, is part of the Facebook transformation away from censorship of free speech, said Dan Schneider, vice president at the conservative watchdog Media Research Center.
Mr. Clegg’s replacement is Joel Kaplan, a senior adviser to President George W. Bush.
“Kaplan is an American who has long fought for constitutional principles, who I think has always been uncomfortable with Facebook’s censorship program,” Mr. Schneider said.
Mr. Schneider does not expect Big Tech giant Google to follow Mr. Zuckerberg’s effort to enhance free speech. Google and its subsidiary YouTube have been accused of censoring conservative content, and Google employees donated overwhelmingly to Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the Facebook changes.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s eagerness to work with the Trump administration to lift social media censorship dramatically reverses the acrimonious relationship between the company and Mr. Trump during his first term. Facebook banned Mr. Trump from the platform for two years, beginning after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Mr. Zuckerberg, a fan of mixed martial arts, announced Monday that Mr. Trump’s staunch ally, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, will join the 13-member Meta board.
“We have massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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