Recently Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a video that its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, will no longer implement a fact-checking policy, instead, they will rely on community notes similar to X.
He says he also plans to get rid of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender.
Appeasing a president
This only applies to the US. The fact-checking policy will remain in place for the rest of the world, including South Africa.
This, says Arthur Goldstuck, analyst and technology commentator, founder of technology market research organisation World Wide Worx, and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za is evidence alone that this is entirely a political move to appease the incoming Trump Administration.
Speaking on eNCA on Wednesday, 15 January, Goldstuck says this announcement is to keep the new President happy.
“Eight years ago when Trump first came into power, Facebook banned him because of the extent to which he manipulated the truth on Facebook and other places.
“This has now resulted in Facebook being right in the cross hairs of Trump’s efforts to damage the platform severely, as he has TikTok and Chinese companies like Huawei for example,” explains Goldstuck.
A “sprint” to get on the President’s right side
He also quotes The Guardian and the New York Times both of which have described the move by Zuckerberg as a “sprint”.
“It has been a sprint because it has happened so suddenly and you can see the entire intent is to get on the right side of the new president,” says Goldstuck
The Guardian headline reads “Move fast, break things – sprint to kiss Trump’s ring” and the intro says: “Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos are falling over themselves to suck up to the incoming president”.
The The New York Times says, “Ever since Donald J. Trump’s victory in November, few big companies have worked as overtly to curry favor with the president-elect, who, during his first administration, accused social media platforms of censoring conservative voices.”
It adds that this presidential transition period has seen Meta sharply shift its strategy in response to what Zuckerberg called a “cultural tipping point” from the election.
It also quoted Zuckerberg having dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November. Following this it says, “Meta later donated $1m to support Trump’s inauguration.
“Last week, Zuckerberg elevated Joel Kaplan, the highest-ranking Meta executive closest to the Republican Party, to the company’s most senior policy role.
“On Monday, Zuckerberg said Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and an ally of Trump’s, would join Meta’s board,” says the article.
The new Facebook and the new Zuckerberg
Goldstuck describes Zuckerberg’s move “as not a good look for him”.
“You could be charitable and say that he is playing politics, or you could be uncharitable and say that he is completely spineless.”
But, says Goldstuck, what he is certainly proving is that he has no concern for Facebook’s commitment over the past eight years to the concept of protecting vulnerable groups.
“The protection he has in place to prevent hate speech to these groups is now being removed and that in itself will define the new Facebook and the new Zuckerberg as well.”
Community involvement
Commenting on community involvement, Goldstuck is sceptical.
“It will work initially, as it did initially on X when even Elon Musk was fact-checked by the community and people put in context what he was saying.”
But he says since then the algorithm that controls that activity and prioritises that kind of community checking has been amended.
“Observers have seen a strong move to allow more right wing-orientated and misinformation-orientated community fact-checking and the deprioritising of the kind of fact-checking that would in the past have put in place the kind of hate speech that we are talking about.”
He believes we will see a similar process in place at Facebook over time.
“Initially it will appear to give users control over what they see and also how they can deal with what they see in terms of calling to account people posting misinformation. But over time it will move more towards how Facebook can better appease the new government.”
Free for all
He adds that Zuckerberg’s comments in the video he posted online that what started as a move to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions is really about the kind of opinions that Musk or Trump would approve of.
“He is talking about hate speech. Facebook has also said it will not only move its content moderation team from California to Texas, where there will be lesser restrictions on their activity but also they will lift restrictions designed to protect immigrants and LGBTIQA+ people from hate speech.”
He also says it is concerning that they will dial back penalties for rule breakers.
“In other words, they want to allow free for all for anyone to say what they want. There is no way anyone can see this in a positive light.”
TikTok ban
Commenting on the upcoming ban on TikTok, he believes that while TikTok will initially be banned in the US, the new Trump administration will come up with a mechanism to bring TikTok back.
“But I also believe that TikTok wants to send a message by shutting down on Sunday when the ban comes into place and to have 170 million Americans complaining loudly to their Government.”
Goldstuck says in the same way, while Zuckerberg is appeasing the President, on the other hand, “he is going to have to jump through loops as well if he wants to keep reaching Americans”.
