Meta Platforms announced significant changes in its approach to managing political content, including scrapping its US fact-checking program and easing restrictions on contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity, Reuters reports.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is shifting toward prioritizing free expression and comes as Zuckerberg seeks to improve relations with the incoming Trump administration. Meta plans to implement a “community notes” system, allowing users to provide context for misleading posts. The company will focus on removing illegal content and high-severity violations but will no longer proactively scan for hate speech.
The decision has drawn mixed reactions with critics arguing the changes could exacerbate misinformation, with some calling it political appeasement. For now, the overhaul is limited to the US, with the fact-checking program remaining operational in regions like the European Union, where stricter regulatory measures are in place.
