“Really Shameful” Meta Decision!
Washington, Jan 10 (EFE).-
US President Joe Biden on Friday said Meta’s decision to get rid of fact-checkers in favor of user-generated community notes was “really shameful” and contrary to what the country stands for.
On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the termination of the company’s third-party verification system and adoption of a model similar to that used by X, owned by Elon Musk, who is close to president-elect Donald Trump. Trump has been highly critical of Meta, parent company of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, accusing it of censoring right-wing voices.
“We want to tell the truth,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “We haven’t always done that as a nation, but we want to tell the truth. And the idea that a billionaire can buy something and say ‘by the way, from this point on we’re not going to fact-check anything,’ and you have millions of people going online reading this stuff… I think it’s really shameful.”
The president considered Meta’s decision to be “contrary to everything America is about.”
In his announcement, Zuckerberg justified his decision by saying it was time to prioritize “freedom of expression” and claimed that Meta fact-checkers had become “too politically biased,” a recurring criticism of Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20.
In addition, Zuckerberg announced the transfer of Meta’s content moderation team from California, a Democratic state, to the Republican stronghold of Texas, and lifted restrictions on some immigration and gender issues.
At a press conference after Meta‘s announcement, Trump took credit for the change of course, saying the new approach was “probably” due to the threats he himself made against Zuckerberg, whom he threatened to jail after Facebook suspended his account following the assault on the Capitol in 2021.
Zuckerberg has sought rapprochement with Trump since the Republican won the US presidential election on Nov. 5.
Weeks after the election, the pair met at Trump’s Florida residence in Mar-a-Lago. After that meeting, Zuckerberg announced several changes in the company’s management, including the resignation of Nick Clegg, then-president of Meta’s Global Affairs and considered his right-hand man. He was replaced by Republican Joel Kaplan, former deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration.
On Tuesday, Meta also announced the addition of three new members to its board of directors, including Dana White, president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and an important figure in Trump’s orbit. EFE bpm/tw
