Elon Musk Shocking Response: Facebook Throws in the Towel on Fact-Checking in the U.S, Follows X operator’s “Freedom First” Playbook

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, announced it would stop its controversial fact-checking program in the US, replacing it with a model similar to X.

In a video statement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that third-party fact-checking services for content on the company’s platform had become “too politically biased” and “destroyed more trust than it created.”

“What started as a movement toward more inclusive content has increasingly been used to suppress opinions, exclude people with different ideas, and go too far,” he said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Instead, the company plans to roll out a “community notes” system that will allow users to flag potentially misleading posts and provide more context for content, similar to the model used by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s social network X (formerly Twitter). Meta will also remove restrictive rules on topics like immigration and gender identity.

Mr. Zuckerberg noted that the changes were influenced by the recent political climate, including the election of Donald Trump as president. In December 2024, the Meta CEO dined with the president-elect at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

“The recent election also felt like a cultural turning point “to prioritize expression again,” Zuckerberg said, promising to reduce “censorship.”

The company acknowledged that its previous attempts to moderate content led to errors and frustration for users. Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and Meta’s new director of global affairs, explained that the decision was made due to concerns about fact-checker bias and over-checking.

“Experts, like everyone else, have biases and perspectives. This is reflected in the choices they make when they check and how they check… making the program a tool for censorship,” he said.

Meta’s “community notes” system is expected to roll out across the US in the coming months, with ongoing improvements planned throughout the year. Meta will also stop downgrading fact-checked content, opting instead for labels that notify users of additional information related to the article.

Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program, launched in 2016 in response to allegations of its role in spreading misinformation during the US presidential election, has been criticized for its bias, lack of transparency, and concerns about the independence of fact-checking organizations.

In 2023, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the Committee on House Judiciary Committee, admits that he faces external pressure to moderate certain content topics on the platform, such as COVID-19, and even satire and humor.

In 2022, Zuckerberg admitted that the platform limited the reach of a controversial story about President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, after the FBI said it needed to be vigilant about foreign disinformation.

President-elect Donald Trump has used Facebook and Instagram extensively during his first term. His accounts were suspended after the violent January 6, 2021, protest at the US Capitol building, amid concerns that he would incite more violence by denying the election results.

Mr Trump’s accounts were restored in 2023. In March of that year, he criticized Meta as “the enemy of the people” and suggested that tech giant Facebook should be held legally responsible for alleged election interference.