Zuckerberg's Meta To Downsize Fact-checking Operations, Citing Challenges

In a number of sweeping changes that will significantly alter the way that posts, videos and other content are moderated online, Meta will adjust its content review policies on Facebook and Instagram, getting rid of fact checkers and replacing them with user-generated community notes, similar to Elon Musks X, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday.

The changes as CNN reports, come just before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. Trump and other Republicans have lambasted Zuckerberg and Meta for what they view as censorship of right-wing voices.

Fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than theyve created, Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the new policy Tuesday. What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and its gone too far.

Zuckerberg, however, acknowledged a tradeoff in the new policy, noting more harmful content will appear on the platform as a result of the content moderation changes.

Metas newly appointed Chief of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan told Fox on Tuesday that Metas partnerships with third-party fact checkers were well intentioned at the outset but theres just been too much political bias in what they choose to fact check and how.