With a Swiss watch worth almost a million euros, Mark Zuckerberg sat down at a wooden table and shot a video. He announced relatively significant changes in it. In it, the head of Meta claims, for example, that the so-called fact-checking system will no longer continue on Instagram, Facebook and Threads. However, the change only applies to the United States and Canada.
In addition, Zuckerberg said fact-checkers were too “politically biased” and at the same time Meta is preparing to loosen the social network’s restrictions. He also announced that social media users will see more political content in his portfolio. He also announced cooperation with the future US President Donald Trump.
The Aktuality.sk portal addressed the topic to experts in social networks and the head of a Slovak fact-checking organization. In the text, we explain what the changes mean, what Slovak users can expect and the reason why Mark Zuckerberg is doing it.
In his video, Mark Zuckerberg said about fact-checkers that they destroyed trust more than they helped it because they were allegedly politically biased. That’s why he decided to get rid of them. For now, it will only affect the US market. “In other countries, as well as in Slovakia, cooperation continues for the time being,” says Veronika Hinková Frankovská, head of the Slovak branch of the fact-checking organization Demagog.sk. However, they say they are aware that changes may occur in the future and that Meta’s stance on fighting misinformation may change.
Fact-checkers do not delete any content, that is the responsibility of social network moderators, of whom there are 11 for the Slovak market. Fact-checkers only mark content that is false or partially false. Such contributions then have a reduced impact. However, fact-checkers cannot verify the contributions of politicians. “In the current form, we only have access to a small part of the contributions,” admits Hinková Frankovská to the insufficient efficiency of the functioning of the system, especially on the Slovak market.
At the same time, the head of Facebook also talked about the alleged censorship on the platform and that they plan to move away from it. “Fact-checking is not the same as censorship,” Daniel Milo, an expert on disinformation and hybrid threats, says about the Meta chief’s video. He argues that if someone can objectively tell a claim to be false, it is not censorship.
Fact-checking is therefore — for now only on the American market — changed to the so-called Community Notes. You can recognize them from the X network, which is owned by Elon Musk today. If a user publishes false information, others can ask to add a so-called Community Note, which corrects the content.
The question is what would happen if Zuckerberg wanted to abolish fact-checking and change the rules in the European market as well. It is regulated by a European regulation called the Digital Services Act (DSA). Milo expects that the European Commission will use all the available means at its disposal, because within the framework of regulation, Meta’s platforms are among very large online platforms (Very Large Online Platforms). The regulation requires this group of platforms to prevent so-called systemic threats. These include influencing election processes, including spreading disinformation. If the platforms do not comply with their obligations under the regulation, they face financial sanctions of up to six percent of the annual turnover. Meta’s turnover in 2023 reached 130 billion euros. Six percent of that is 7.8 billion.
In addition to the abolition of fact-checkers, Zuckerberg also announced more political content on social networks owned by Meta. Although there have been fewer of them so far, Milo says this is not necessarily a negative. “It would be a problem if hand-in-hand with this the abandonment of any mechanisms for reporting false, misleading or illegal content,” added the expert.
However, social network expert Jakub Goda is concerned about Zuckerberg’s words about more political content. „It’s a reason to be nervous, especially when we notice how things look at the X network after it became politicized under Elon Musk,” he claims.
The head of Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram and Threads, also spoke about the change in the rules of the social network. Specifically about their release. He says this in connection with the fact that he wants to restore freedom of speech on Meta’s platforms. The founder of Facebook also talks about changes in content moderation and the application of rules, which he justifies by the fact that if even one percent of posts are deleted incorrectly, it will be a large number of posts.
“It signals that they will try to make as few mistakes as possible, and in practice this will also mean that there will be more harmful or illegal content that violates the rules,” evaluates the statements of Zuckerberg God.
In the video, Zuckerberg directly mentions that he and Trump will pressure governments around the world “that are going after American companies and pushing for more censorship.” In this context, he also directly mentions the European Union.
Both Milo and Goda agree that Mark Zuckerberg is trying to please the incoming president of the United States, Donald Trump, with these steps. According to Jakub Goda, the head of Meta joins Trump and Musk. “He is taking the language of Trump and Elon Musk and siding with them in the fight against European Union regulations,” Goda said.
Milo perceives Zuckerberg’s video as a clear political signal to the incoming US administration. “It follows in the footsteps of the attitude of Elon Musk, who, when he bought the Twitter network (now X), abolished any content moderation that existed there. This has led to a rapid increase in toxic, violent and hateful content on this platform,” the expert points out. An expert on disinformation and hybrid threats perceives the video as a negative signal motivated by political goals.
Another example of the rapprochement between Trump and Zuckerberg is the appointment of Trump’s personal friend Dana White to the Meta board.
