Facebook Dumps “Politically Biased” Fact-Checkers That Have “Destroyed More Trust Than They’ve Created”
Facebook is to scrap its fact-checkers after founder Mark Zuckerberg said they have “been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created” as he pledged to “restore free expression” on the social network. The Telegraph has more.
Mr. Zuckerberg on Tuesday promised that parent company Meta would “get rid of fact-checkers” and replace them with a system of “community notes, similar to X”, echoing the approach of rival billionaire Elon Musk.
It follows the exit of Sir Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader, as the tech giant’s head of global affairs, a role in which he led a crackdown on hate speech.
Sir Nick has been replaced by the former Republican Party operator Joel Kaplan, who will lead Facebook’s public policy operations.
In a further sign of the company’s shift towards the Right, Mr. Zuckerberg this week appointed longstanding Donald Trump ally Dana White, the Chief Executive of Ultimate Fighting Championship, as a board member.
Mr. Zuckerberg said: “Fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created.”
He added that Facebook would “get rid of a bunch of restrictions” on topics including gender and immigration amid a wider corporate backlash against diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Mr. Zuckerberg said: “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions.”
The Facebook founder said the technology company had gone too far in tackling “disinformation” in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election victory in 2016, amid fears over Russian meddling and fake news, adding that “we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship”.
He has previously accused Joe Biden’s White House of pressuring Facebook to censor content around coronavirus, saying: “I regret we were not more outspoken about it.”
The decision to ditch some of Facebook’s core moderation policies comes after the departure of Sir Nick, previously one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s key lieutenants who was closely involved in the decision to suspend Mr. Trump from Facebook in 2021. …
In a statement, the Oversight Board said: “The Oversight Board welcomes the news that Meta will revise its approach to fact-checking, with the goal of finding a scalable solution to enhance trust, free speech and user voice on its platforms.”
Mr. Zuckerberg added that Facebook planned to “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.
It comes as Britain prepares to implement the Online Safety Act, starting in March.
Good riddance to the fatuous checkers, their reign was brief but inglorious. And what will poor Leo Benedictus do now? It’s hard to hold back the tears.
Does this mean we’ll be allowed to talk freely about facemasks, lockdowns and Covid vaccines as well? Let’s hope so.
Worth reading in full.
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Mr. Zuckerberg said: “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions.”
Oh, I see, the “it started good then went bad” lie. However, the “fact checkers” were instituted in order to deceive us, and for the Establishment to try to maintain its lies. Also, exclusion can never be inclusive; this is so obvious that this fact shouldn’t be necessary to state.
What a slime ball he is eh – rapidly adjusting to align to the new broom… anyone who changes their values for political or business gain should not be trusted in my view
The movement to be more in inclusive resulted in being more exclusive.
He certainly blows with the wind doesn’t he!
Doing it purely because the political (and hence business) landscape is changing rapidly.
Not out of any genuine desire to restore free speech and eliminate bias. If Kalamity had won the election they’d be doubling down on the censorship and wokeness.
Still, can’t be a bad thing. Whirlwind Trump is rapidly approaching…
Zuckerberg re-configuring to be on the prudent side of Trump and Musk.
How times change. Simpleton’s harmonic motion prevails again.
No backbone.
Ah, when needs must.
When needs Musk?
Next up Marianna Spring’s mob over at al-Beeb.
Rest assured BBC Verify can be relied upon to carry on verifying lies.
It will be quite amusing to (hopefully) see FB and BBC “Verify” contradicting one another! 🤣
Oh of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else.
BBC Falsify
I guess Zuckerbucks won’t be familiar with the Vicar of Bray.
Does this mean quoting Obelix on Facebook will again be allowed? Or would this be a bridge too far?
I don’t know much about Obelix – is he a horrid right winger or something?
Nadal being homosexual and other various AI mistakes. Are these mistakes genuine or some sort of PsyOp because AI is the Tiger that the Globalists have by the tail!
“a role in which he led a crackdown on [hate speech] air quotes!
Speaking of the Lib Dems, I heard in the radio that Musk called Davey a snivelling cretin LOL!
There is more joy in heaven etc.
YouTube next? Take the bias out of the algorithms? Stop demonetarising right wing accounts?
What a difference a Trump makes.
Aunty Beeb has also covered this story.
Well? We’re waiting…
Come on. Where’s the refutation?
Oh you don’t mean you ‘refute’ the allegations, you mean you ‘deny’ them. Understood.
We need an article explaining what it is Zuckerberg is scared of that he was not scared of before the Democrats so successfully supported the election victory of Donald Trump.
Lest we not forget, The Donald could never have won the Presidency without all the help the Democrats gave him.
So can someone please explain what has scared Zuckerberg so much? If someone can bottle and sell it I will buy some.
Is he just scared of extra costs of compliance and fines and criminal proceedings and loss of profits from “governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.
Or is he scared of what The Donald might do? After all Trump is reportedly cancelling a US$trillion contract with Lockheed for fighter planes because China is winning the technology race whilst Trump criticises Lockheed because it ‘sends executives to DEI camps’ instead of making better fighter planes than the Chinese.
It could be that he’s eyeing Sh*tTok’s operations in the US, after massively directing the shareholders’ money in the failed dream of Metaverse and completely missing the AI train?
“Does this mean we’ll be allowed to talk freely about facemasks, lockdowns and Covid vaccines as well? Let’s hope so”
Could be pushing your luck there especially if you start talking about excess deaths. Will be interesting to see – don’t hold your breath.
The political scene in Washington is changing. I am sure Zuckerberg is just trying to navigate the insane minefield that is US politics. It is impossible for humans to manage this concentration of power and wealth.