Meta announced this month its plan to reduce or end fact-checking in its social media platforms, including Instagram and Whatsapp, sparking widespread controversy. This has created debates over free speech, censorship, and misinformation.
Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and CEO of Meta, formerly known as Facebook. He has also acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
Zuckerberg asserted in a video that Meta will take a similar approach to Elon Musk’s platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in which they promote a feature called community notes. This feature allows users to add context to potentially misleading posts.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms,” said Mark Zuckerberg.
During the 2016 presidential election, Meta introduced their partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). However, many criticized a third-party fact checker because of the possibility of political bias.
“It’s different when the fact checks are run by a third-party system because humans inherently have a bias. I think community posts are a fair system because people can share their opinions freely while others can add context to provide clarity,” said Melissa Warner.
Many have continuously voiced their complaint about Meta’s regulations. Users have spoken about instances in which they felt their freedom of expression was suppressed, specifically revolving around topics such as the presidential election, COVID-19, and climate change, where most of these posts were later proven true.
Mark Zuckerberg has addressed the external pressure from officials and the government in the last four years to increase censorship among social media platforms.
It is extremely difficult to determine where the fine line is between violating American citizens’ First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, and spreading defamation, discrimination, and inappropriate posts. As President Donald Trump’s term begins, many companies feel responsible for regulating content and preserving the right to freedom of expression.
Despite debates among others, both sides of the political spectrum can agree on wanting more transparency and the truth publicized throughout social media.
“Accessibility to all information allows a wider range of diverse opinions for when people form their own beliefs and can consider different ideas,” said Warner.
In essence, Meta has declared that they will attempt to find a balance in having free expression and preventing harmful, false, and inappropriate content online.
