Meta Drops Fact Checkers on Facebook and Instagram, Citing Political Bias and Censorship Concerns

Following in the footsteps of Elon Musk’s X, Meta has announced it will be nixing its fact-checking apparatus on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in favor of Community Notes, as CNN reported.

In a video explaining the move, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined concerns over political bias and censorship as being key to the company’s move toward Community Notes.

“Fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” Zuckerberg said. “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”

Meta Expresses Concern Over ‘Mission Creep’

In a lengthy blog post detailing the decision, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, laid out both the motives and the methodology underpinning the company’s move toward Community Notes.

First up was a renewed focus on reducing spam, illegal content, and high-severity posts which run contrary to Meta’s stated goals and policies. Terrorism, child sexual exploitation, and content tied to scams or drugs were explicitly named as examples that the company would continue to police.

Later in the missive, Kaplan underscored the company’s understanding of unintended “mission creep” pertaining to its stewardship of public discourse on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

“We want to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement. We’re getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate. It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms. These policy changes may take a few weeks to be fully implemented,” Kaplan wrote.

Critics Have Concerns Over Zuckerberg/Meta Move

Not everyone is happy about the move toward Community Notes rather than third-party fact checkers, however.

As Wired suggested, a loosening of censorship on the platform has led to medical misinformation proliferating, as well as some militia groups conducting recruitment via Meta services.

And as CNN indicated, at least one Facebook watchdog — The Real Facebook Oversight Board — questioned Meta’s recent position, stating that the platform was set to go “full MAGA.”

“Meta’s announcement today is a retreat from any sane and safe approach to content moderation,” the group wrote in a statement, per CNN, before referring to the policy pivot as “political pandering.”

According to Kaplan, those interested in joining the Community Notes program can do so via Facebook, Instagram, or Threads, and the program will begin rolling out in the United States over the next few months.