Facebook parent company Meta has announced plans to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes, starting in the US.
This is part of shifting its approach to fact-checking, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The move comes as Zuckerberg and other tech executives seek to improve relations with US president-elect Donald Trump before he takes office later this month, BBC reports.
It adds that Trump and his Republican allies have criticised Meta for its fact-checking policy, calling it censorship of right-wing voices.
Speaking after the changes were announced, Trump told a news conference he was impressed by Zuckerberg's decision and that Meta had “come a long way”.
According to Zuckerberg, this decision comes after realising that the original programme, launched in 2016, didn’t quite work as intended.
The programme relied on independent fact-checking organisations to provide more information about online content, especially viral hoaxes.
Zuckerberg says: “When we launched our independent fact-checking programme in 2016, we were very clear that we didn’t want to be the arbiters of truth. We made what we thought was the best and most reasonable choice at the time, which was to hand that responsibility over to independent fact-checking organisations.”
However, according to Zuckerberg, these experts, like anyone else, brought their own biases and perspectives, leading to inconsistent fact-checking and unintended consequences.
He notes that the current programme’s flaws became apparent, particularly in the US, where fact-checking sometimes targeted legitimate political speech and debate.
This led to intrusive labels and reduced distribution, effectively censoring certain content, he adds.
In a five-minute video, Zuckerberg says fact checkers have become too politically-biased and have destroyed more trust than they created.
He adds that over the next couple of months, Meta is going to phase in a more comprehensive community note system and simplify content policies; and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse
By doing this, Zuckerberg says Meta is reaffirming its commitment to free expression, and reducing censorship on its platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
The company aims to strike a better balance, promoting free speech while minimising errors and unnecessary restrictions.
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