Top News:
Bruna Horvath / NBC News:
Zuckerberg says Meta will restore “free expression” on its platforms, including by replacing its fact-checking program with Community Notes, starting in the US — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the move in a post Tuesday morning. — Meta is scrapping its fact-checking program …
Discussion:
CNN, Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram, One Man & His Blog, The Guardian, Adweek, The Register, Business Insider, Washington Examiner, Engadget, Blaze Media, The Barbed Wire, @brendancarrfcc, RetailWire, News18, @karaswisher@threads.net, @elonmusk, @angieholan, @schooley.bsky.social, Passionfruit, Breitbart, New Republic, @chrislhayes.bsky.social, NPR, Fox News, City A.M., New York Times, The Information, Dexerto, Fast Company, @jamessurowiecki, @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Irish Independent, NewsBytes, @parkermolloy@threads.net, Fortune, @mikeisaac, @jim_jordan, The Verge, @jospang.bsky.social, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Semafor, @outnproud.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, Mediaite, Twitchy, PinkNews, @drandrealove.bsky.social, @moonalice.com, @lakewitchhouse.bsky.social, @drewharwell.com, @timobrien.bsky.social, @antoniogm, @wexler, @alistaircoleman.bsky.social, @simondowens@threads.net, @econ_marshall, @reckless.bsky.social, @surabees, @jtlonsdale, @stroughtonsmith …, Wall Street Journal, Prof. Annabelle Gawer on LinkedIn, @eric_seufert, Tubefilter, American Greatness, Benzinga, @lorak.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @semaforben, @koltai.bsky.social, @randpaul, @adrianweckler, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @apompliano, @antoniogm, Newsbusters, @kevinrothrock.me, @andymstone, @mgeist, @danprimack, @aidnmclaughlin, Louder With Crowder, Beyond Search, IJR, @basedbeffjezos, Daily Mail, @adamserwer.bsky.social, @mcuban@threads.net, @dtrinh, @oversightboard, PhoneArena, @marietjeschaake.bsky.social, @antoniogm, @dsilverman@threads.net, Reclaim The Net, @michaelmiraflor, @kylascan, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Jon-Stephen Stansel on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Oversight Board, @emollick, Ars Technica, @bobbyallyn, Inbal Goldberger on LinkedIn, Townhall, GB News, NTD, @carolecadwalla, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @martinsfp@threads.net, @brianstelter, @rmac.bsky.social and @jessicalessin, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Clare Duffy / CNN: Meta makes major changes to moderation policies
Mark Zuckerberg / Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram: It's time to get back to our roots around free expression. We're replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes. Looking forward to this next chapter.
Adam Tinworth / One Man & His Blog: My top 10 posts of 2024: the bottom half
Blake Montgomery / The Guardian: Why did Mark Zuckerberg end Facebook and Instagram's factchecking program?
David Cohen / Adweek: Meta Scraps Third-Party Fact-Checking For X-like Community Notes. Some Claim It's Gone ‘Full MAGA’
Brandon Vigliarolo / The Register: Zuck takes a page from Musk: Dumps fact-checkers, loosens speech restrictions
Elaine Mallon / Washington Examiner: Jewish group expects antisemitism to ‘flourish’ online with Meta changes
Leslie Rangel / The Barbed Wire: Meta Moves Teams to Texas Over ‘Concern’ of ‘Biased Employees’ in California
Brendan Carr / @brendancarrfcc: @brianstelter [image]
Nicholas Morine / RetailWire: Meta Drops Fact Checkers on Facebook and Instagram, Citing Political Bias and Censorship Concerns
News18: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta To Replace Third Party Fact Checkers With Community Notes Like Musk's X | US
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher@threads.net: I hope you all get it now. As I wrote in my book and for decades, they have never cared a rat's ass about safety and now it's easy and lucrative not to by labeling any legit concern about toxic lies as censorship. And they are now richer and more powerful than ever: https://www.cnn.com/...
Elon Musk / @elonmusk: This is cool [image]
Angie Drobnic Holan / @angieholan: Here's my statement on @Meta ending factchecking program. [image]
Schooley / @schooley.bsky.social: Seems like when you look past the shiny PR front of most any big tech operation there's still festering old incel wounds in play. [embedded post]
Charlotte Colombo / Passionfruit: Meta Gives Up On Facts
Wendell Husebo / Breitbart: ‘Huge Win for Free Speech’: Republicans Cheer Facebook's Retreat from Censorship
Chris Hayes / @chrislhayes.bsky.social: It's funny Zuck says “I started building social media to give people a voice” when in fact, he started building social media to publicly rate the hotness of undergrads.
Fox News: JONATHAN TURLEY: Meta's Zuckerberg makes a free speech move that could be truly transformational
Saskia Koopman / City A.M.: Zuckerberg's Meta drops fact checking filters in return to ‘free speech’
Kate Conger / New York Times: Meta Turns to Community Notes, Mirroring X
Dylan Horetski / Dexerto: Mark Zuckerberg reveals Community Notes feature for Instagram
Chris Stokel-Walker / Fast Company: Is Mark Zuckerberg becoming a mini-Elon Musk?
James Surowiecki / @jamessurowiecki: Trump is suing a pollster who put out a poll he didn't like. He's suing CBS for how it edited an interview with Kamala Harris. He sued Simon and Schuster because Bob Woodward published a book that included verbatim quotes from him. He has zero commitment to “free expression.”
Yaël Eisenstat / @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social: When Zuckerberg says “we're gonna get back to our roots,” don't for a second believe he means promoting free speech. Facebook's “roots” were to violate people's privacy & rate college women's looks. I'll have more to say, but let's not perpetrate his retconning. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill: Meta ending fact-checking program: Zuckerberg
Gage Klipper / The Daily Caller: Zuck Stepping Out Of The Muck: Facebook Founder Announces Seismic Shift Against Censorship
Adrian Weckler / Irish Independent: Meta to scrap fact checkers and some hate speech rules as Zuckerberg says he and Trump will go to war against EU
Parker Molloy / @parkermolloy@threads.net: Reminder that *just yesterday* Meta got caught censoring and suppressing LGBTQ content. Sure is funny which content is “free expression” and which content gets hidden... https://www.usermag.co/...
Alena Botros / Fortune: Mark Zuckerberg takes a cue from Elon Musk: Facebook and Instagram will ditch fact checking and instead rely on community notes
Rat King / @mikeisaac: the other funny thing about Meta's announcements today is how last year they had every top exec defending removing political content from all the feeds and now they're like “actually we're putting all that back in, nevermind”
Rep. Jim Jordan / @jim_jordan: Today's news from Mark Zuckerberg comes after @JudiciaryGOP conducted rigorous oversight to protect the First Amendment. Last August, Zuckerberg admitted to our Committee that the Biden White House had pressured Facebook to censor Americans. Today is a huge step in the right
Jochen Spangenberg / @jospang.bsky.social: Huge disruptions ahead! — The impact of this on factchecking (organisations), #disinformation spreading and the web in general will be enormous. — #Meta #Facebook #Instagram. — Of relevance also to bodies such as @factchecknet.bsky.social, @edmo-eu.bsky.social, #EFCSN — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Mathias Hammer / Semafor: Meta ends fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram
@outnproud.bsky.social: Forget living in the “Information Age” — We live in the “Misinformation Age” — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Renee DiResta / @noupside.bsky.social: People have really short memories. This really hasn't worked well for X. It's going to work even less well for Meta. Community Notes is a great concept but it struggles to perform. — Is Meta going to have a transparent Notes program? How is Zuck going to incentivize people to work for free? [image]
Colby Hall / Mediaite: Facebook Exec Fawns Over Trump's Commitment to ‘Free Expression’ While Defending End of Fact-Checking to Fox & Friends
Amelia Hansford / PinkNews: Meta to get rid of social media fact checkers to promote so-called ‘free speech’
Andrea Love, PhD / @drandrealove.bsky.social: Meta is going to stop using third-party fact checkers after Trump takes office. — Instead, they're going to use the “community note” approach that is on Twitter — which means the most virulent, terminally online, disinformation peddlers will be able to override objective facts. — 1/
Roger McNamee / @moonalice.com: Remember: when faced with a choice, Meta always chooses the path that ensures maximum harm to the largest number of users. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
@lakewitchhouse.bsky.social: zuck turning the More Bluesky and More Twitter knobs simultaneously and looking back over his shoulder at the reaction [embedded post]
Drew Harwell / @drewharwell.com: Four years ago today, when Facebook suspended Trump after his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Mark Zuckerberg said “the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.” [image]
Tim O'Brien / @timobrien.bsky.social: “We're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.” - Zuckerberg — He packages it as a free speech push - not about having adequate fact-checking so, for example, his platform isn't awash in disinformation. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Antonio García Martínez / @antoniogm: A whole cadre of ‘misinformation’ experts sprung up to morally justify (and cash in on) the enterprise. For years, a much smaller group warned of where this would lead, and that 1A should be our guide to online speech. We were universally reviled. https://www.wired.com/...
Nu Wexler / @wexler: Social media fact-checking can work in theory, but the politics of it are extremely difficult — at least in the US under Fed Republican control. It was a major pain point for the big platforms on the hill. Wish the companies who attempted it received more credit for trying.
Alistair Coleman / @alistaircoleman.bsky.social: So, what you're saying is that Facebook is going to be just like X, only with your racist aunt, and someone you went to school with whose profile picture is them holding a fish who calls everything woke. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Simon Owens / @simondowens@threads.net: Pretty sure Zuckerberg could have worded this announcement without sounding like it was dictated by Ben Shapiro. In other words, he was deliberately signaling that he wants Meta to be a friendly home for Trumpers and didn't want to leave any ambiguity.
Marshall Steinbaum / @econ_marshall: The obvious move here is to pounce when it becomes obvious that the MAGA anti-establishment posturing is just a rebrand in the service of consolidating plutocratic control even further. But you have to not like the system or think it's doing a good job to make that move work!
Nilay Patel / @reckless.bsky.social: Only in Trump's America does Zuckerberg utterly cave to the demands of an unelected wannabe government censor and call it protecting free expression www.theverge.com/2025/1/7/243...
Andrew Surabian / @surabees: A total game changer for free speech. The Facebook/Instagram fact checking program was the beating heart of the censorship industrial complex. Fox News: Meta ends fact-checking program as Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook, Instagram https://www.foxnews.com/...
Joe Lonsdale / @jtlonsdale: This is great. Glad to see Zuck stepping up here 🇺🇸. I'm sure quite a few leftist heads exploded internally. 2025 is about letting freedom reign.
Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith …: Chilling. If the wake-up call hasn't set in yet, we outside the US really need to start viewing all US-based companies as from a hostile aggressor, beholden to imperial dictates, not law. As a new dark age engulfs America, the rest of us must do what we can to insulate ourselves from the fallout …
Gareth Vipers / Wall Street Journal: Meta Ends Fact-Checking on Facebook, Instagram in Free-Speech Pitch
Prof. Annabelle Gawer / Prof. Annabelle Gawer on LinkedIn: News: Meta (Facebook) has just ended its fact-checking program, making a U turn on its policy of content curation which it had adopted since 2016 …
Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert: Meta's decision to replace fact-checking with community notes and otherwise abrogate its position on policing misinformation is not a “right-wing policy” as described. Doctrinaire left-wing ideologues dominate the digital misinformation oversight complex: if anything, that Meta
James Hale / Tubefilter: Meta axes fact-checking program, is working with Trump administration to “promote free expression”
Debra Heine / American Greatness: Zuckerberg Announces META Will End Fact-Checking Program and Move to Community Notes Model to ‘Restore Free Expression’
Chris Katje / Benzinga: Meta Drops Fact-Checking For Community Notes: Zuckerberg Sees ‘Opportunity To Restore Free Expression’
Lora Kolodny / @lorak.bsky.social: Why do something well yourself as a company when you can put the entire burden of quality (in this case, trust & safety) on your users? Also be sure to criticize “government” for “censorship” when you were always in control of your own T&S. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social: As for Meta, I am much more disturbed about replacing Nick Clegg with Trumpist Joel Kaplan and the new board members. Zuckerberg is not just obeying in advance, he is paying tribune in advance. The extremists are cheering for they called fact-checking censorship. BS.
Ben Smith / @semaforben: I talked to Zuckerberg very early in the pandemic, when it seemed like there was some social consensus/clear facts, and that it was a great use case for fact checking, and asked him if he thought it marked a broader shift in social media: https://www.nytimes.com/... [image]
Kolina Koltai / @koltai.bsky.social: As someone who worked on Birdwatch/Community notes at Twitter, I can tell you that the system was NEVER designed to work on it's own. It is is designed to work alongside fact checking systems. — The eshitification of the Meta continues — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Rand Paul / @randpaul: .@Meta finally admits to censoring speech...what a great birthday present to wake up to and a huge win for free speech.
Adrian Weckler / @adrianweckler: Meta to scrap fact checkers and go to war with Donald Trump against the EU, he says. Looser safety rules on issues such as immigration and gender. Admits they"ll catch “less bad stuff” but says “trade off” is worth it. Huge pivot from Zuck and Meta. https://www.independent.ie/...
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick.bsky.social: 3. The framing of it as Zuck supporting free speech is total nonsense. Fact checking is Meta's own speech. Self-suppressing that is the opposite of free speech. — 4. Community Notes style features is nice, but also doesn't solve a wide class of problems. — 5. The whole Texas thing is so stupid.
Anthony Pompliano / @apompliano: The vibe shift is real. Zuck is all-in on free speech. Once again, the people's voice is eventually heard. [video]
Antonio García Martínez / @antoniogm: I distinctly recall when, days after the 2016 election, Zuck posted FB would start adjudicating truth in posts. As a former employee, I was shocked that a company focused on free speech for all would spin up a censorship apparatus. That finally ends. [video]
Tom Olohan / Newsbusters: Victory! Brent Bozell Commends Meta for Turnabout After ‘Years-Long Battle’ for Free Speech
Kevin Rothrock / @kevinrothrock.me: Looks like community notes are the future for Big Tech, which is the biggest indictment of it that I can imagine. Over at X, it often produces needed context and corrections, but it's also easily coopted by herd-mob activism. Yuck. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Andy Stone / @andymstone: 2. Allowing more speech that's well in the mainstream of political discourse while focusing toughest enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations (terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud, scams). 3. Taking a more personalized approach to political content.
Michael Geist / @mgeist: In past 24 hours, Canada's online harms bill dies and Meta ends third party fact checking as company says it censored too much content. Huge changes to Internet content landscape. For Canada, Meta not backing down on blocking news links and U.S. could join fight on C-11 rules.
Dan Primack / @danprimack: Facebook adopting Community Notes, which regularly allows blatant misinformation to be loudly amplified for hours or days before being noted.
Aidan McLaughlin / @aidnmclaughlin: Facebook implemented fact checking and pivoted away from news in 2016 after a massive backlash to the election of Trump and FB's role in fueling his success. That Zuckerberg is going the opposite direction in 2024 shows how much things have changed
Brodigan / Louder With Crowder: Watch: Mark Zuckerberg makes MAJOR changes to Facebook, credits Trump's reelection for bringing back free speech
Stephen E. Arnold / Beyond Search: FOGINT: Divergent Trajectories for Facebook and Telegram
Andrew Powell / IJR: Meta Shuts Down Fact-Checking: Zuckerberg Champions Free Speech
@basedbeffjezos: Woah. 😲 Zuck going full anti-censorship, following Elon and X's lead 😤 Based Zuck arc and vibe shift complete ✅🔥 [video]
Joe Hutchison / Daily Mail: Mark Zuckerberg's stunning censorship admission as he seeks to suck-up to Trump
Adam Serwer / @adamserwer.bsky.social: we're entering a golden age of media bootlicking, and the platforms are going to be even worse. juche level submission
Mark Cuban / @mcuban@threads.net: Translation: Americans are going to see Tariffs on products from countries you believe censor Meta services as a means of pressuring them into removing any restrictions that impact your profitability in those countries. …
Danny Trinh / @dtrinh: It's inevitable Community Notes will evolve and improve. If Web 2.0 taught us anything, it's the wisdom of the crowd ultimately wins with good thoughtful systems. @VitalikButerin recently concepted prediction markets x community notes that I find clever: https://vitalik.eth.limo/...
@oversightboard: The Oversight Board welcomes the news that Meta will revise its approach to fact-checking, with the goal of finding a scalable solution to enhance trust, free speech and user voice on its platforms. Statement by Co-Chairs of the Oversight Board: [image]
Sebastian Pier / PhoneArena: Zuck admits Facebook has been “censoring too much” and ends fact-checking practices
Marietje Schaake / @marietjeschaake.bsky.social: A slimy kiss of the ring. Has the ‘oversight board’ spoken yet? 🤢 Zuckerberg pointed to the election as a major influence on the company's decision and criticized “governments and legacy media” for allegedly pushing “to censor more and more.” ↘️ www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Antonio García Martínez / @antoniogm: OH in the group chat: “I guess Elon won that cage match after all.”
Dwight Silverman / @dsilverman@threads.net: When I read @zuck's thread on changes in Meta's approach to moderation, I think back to @reckless1280's contention that moderation IS the product. At face value, everything he wrote seems fair on the surface - the freedom to speak freely is an ideal. But the ideal is often marred by hate, lies, threatened violence and vile imagery. …
Christina Maas / Reclaim The Net: Free Speech or Reputation Repair? Meta's Bid to Start Over Now It's Politically Convenient
Michael J. Miraflor / @michaelmiraflor: Oh boy, there is a LOT packed into this video... Also if you take these new “free speech” policies + AI avatar accounts + green light for increased political content... we're truly in uncharted territory 😮💨
Kyla Scanlon / @kylascan: Full transcript included but a few interesting things - Reducing content moderation while scaling AI content could be incredibly profitable (especially because politics is another content vertical for engagement as he points out). The anti-censorship narrative is great because it [image]
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social: I was around at the beginning of Meta's fact-checking efforts, trying to convince them to do it well (e.g., around sourcing). It was pretty much a cluster-f as was much of what Joe Bernstein has called Big Disinfo.
Jon-Stephen Stansel / Jon-Stephen Stansel on LinkedIn: Oof...brace yourselves. Disinformation is about to get a whole lot worse on Facebook. — Sure, community notes sometimes work okay on a platform like Twitter...but on Facebook? …
Sean Burch / The Wrap: Meta to Remove Fact Checkers in Place of Community Notes, Citing Trump and X | Video
Ethan Mollick / @emollick: Seems relevant given the discussion of how fact-checking & information work online that X appears to have rolled out detailed AI interactions on tweets, the first big change in how social media works in awhile It is a fascinating initial implementation with unclear consequences [image]
Bobby Allyn / @bobbyallyn: Meanwhile, the FTC's big anti-trust lawsuit against Meta is set for an April 2025 trial. And just weeks ago, the government wrote the court that Zuckerberg is expected to be one of the first witnesses called to the stand. [image]
Inbal Goldberger / Inbal Goldberger on LinkedIn: I have so many thoughts and emotions after watching Mark Zuckerberg's announcement today about Meta's new approach to Trust & Safety. …
Leah Barkoukis / Townhall: With Trump's Return, Meta's Zuckerberg Announces Major Changes at Its Social Media Platforms
Aaron Brown / GB News: Facebook culls fact-checkers and mimics Elon Musk in bid to ‘restore’ free speech on social media
Zachary Stieber / NTD: Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program in US, Introduces X-style Community Notes
Carole Cadwalladr / @carolecadwalla: Dear Facebook Oversight Board, You've made a profoundly wrong & bad choice. For anyone else facing an ethical dilemma in these coming years, this is what @TimothyDSnyder says: ‘Know who you are.’ [image]
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick.bsky.social: Quick take on the Meta announcement (subject to revisions later). — 1. Duh, of course this is political posturing nonsense. — 2. That said, fact checking by the platforms themselves has always been more problematic and less helpful than many people imagine.
@martinsfp@threads.net: Zuck's obvious bootlicking aside, community notes on Facebook will be a hilarious mess.
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: Meta's framing - in its PR blog post - is “More Speech and Fewer Mistakes.” An alternate title could be “More Lies and More Confusion.” https://www.cnn.com/...
Ryan Mac / @rmac.bsky.social: Honestly would have been more appropriate for Zuckerberg to have made his announcement yesterday so it was on the anniversary of an event his social media platforms helped foment.
Jessica Lessin / @jessicalessin: Number of shots fired in Zuckerberg's post announcing new approach to moderating content at Meta. 1) Biden 2) Legacy media 3) Journalists 4) California/Newsom 5) recent discourse around immigration and gender identity 6) China 7) Some Latin American governments Sure I missed
RELATED:
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Meta's Joel Kaplan says the Trump administration is “a huge supporter of free expression”, which “gets us back to the values that Mark founded the company on” — Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, joins ‘Fox & Friends’ Tuesday morning for exclusive interview
Discussion:
Meta, Common Dreams, Fast Company, Politico, Townhall, Dallas Morning News, New York Post, Siouxsie Jennett on LinkedIn, Krista L. Baughman on LinkedIn, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Mother Jones, New York Times, Washington Examiner, @davidclinchnews, @andymstone, News18, @brookesingman, @francisbrennan, Ad Age, @nickjcal.bsky.social, The Bulwark, @mschenk.bsky.social, The Daily Caller, @alfalphamale.bsky.social, Daily Kos, @brookesingman, @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social, @ckatzenbach.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, RedState, @brianstelter, @jospang.bsky.social, ZeroHedge News, Just The News, @ebakerwhite.bsky.social, @davidakaye.bsky.social, @alfunk.bsky.social, Twitchy, @mgeist.bsky.social, @brookesingman, Forbes, Raw Story, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, WBAL Baltimore News, The Post Millennial, Reuters, @worklesshard.bsky.social, Axios, @willricci, Joel Kaplan on LinkedIn, @stemcdermott.bsky.social and @dmeyer.eu, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Eloise Goldsmith / Common Dreams: Facebook Follows X Down Path to Becoming Right-Wing ‘Cesspool’ by Ending Fact-Checking Efforts
Scott Nover / Fast Company: Fact-checking on Facebook was already a lost cause
Csongor Körömi / Politico: Zuck goes full Musk, dumps Facebook fact-checking program
Matt Vespa / Townhall: CNN's Media Reporter Did Not Just Tweet This About Facebook's Changes to ‘Fact-Checking’
Kyle Arnold / Dallas Morning News: Instagram, Facebook parent Meta moving division to Texas in pivot toward ‘free expression’
Taylor Herzlich / New York Post: Mark Zuckerberg wears rare $900K Swiss watch to reveal major shift on Meta's free speech: report
Siouxsie Jennett / Siouxsie Jennett on LinkedIn: Not sure this is going in the right direction. I'm concerned with the disinformation that is prevalent in our social media channels. …
Krista L. Baughman / Krista L. Baughman on LinkedIn: Breaking news: Meta will stop using third party “fact checkers” and instead rely on Facebook and Instagram users to add notes or corrections to posts. …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: Zuckerberg Achieves Trump Lap Monkey Badge And Other Platform News
Brent D. Griffiths / Business Insider: Trump says Mark Zuckerberg is ‘probably’ responding to his previous threats by changing Meta's direction
Cecilia Kang / New York Times: Who Is Joel Kaplan, Meta's New Global Policy Chief?
Emily Hallas / Washington Examiner: Zuckerberg following Musk's lead in axing ‘fact-checkers’ on Meta
David Clinch / @davidclinchnews: It will be interesting to see how this plays out. We proposed a Community Notes-style approach almost 10 years ago to Facebook but it was deemed (by them) to be too expensive and not as good as algorithms back then.
Andy Stone / @andymstone: New @MetaChief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan on @foxandfriends moments ago: “What we're doing today is we're getting back to our roots on free expression.” 1. Ending third party fact-checking program, moving to a Community Notes model https://about.fb.com/...
Shankhyaneel Sarkar / News18: Zuckerberg Removes Meta's Fact-Checkers For X-Like ‘Community Notes’, Elon Musk Approves
Brooke Singman / @brookesingman: “We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers,” Kaplan told Fox News Digital in an interview. “It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check because, basically, they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform.”
Francis Brennan / @francisbrennan: From @BrookeSingman with @FoxNews: “Meta is ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to “restore free expression” across...Meta platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have “gone too far.” https://www.foxnews.com/...
Nick Calandra / @nickjcal.bsky.social: Yes. — Cause things have gone so well for Twitter by eschewing any responsibility to moderate their platform. — I'm all for free speech obviously. — But when platforms don't even enact their own terms of service why even have rules at all?
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark: Mark Zuckerberg Is a Surrender Monkey
Maarten Schenk / @mschenk.bsky.social: Given how well Community Notes are working on X this is troubling...
John Loftus / The Daily Caller: Mark Zuckerberg's Embrace Of Physical Violence Has Made Him A Better Man
@alfalphamale.bsky.social: The moderation on FB is terrible but I'm always leery when a billionaire says they are adopting the X model of community notes and moderation. about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Oliver Willis / Daily Kos: Zuckerberg's Meta follows Musk's X into misinformation
Brooke Singman / @brookesingman: NEW: Meta ends fact-checking program as Zuckerberg vows to restore free expression on Facebook, Instagram @Meta @finkd @facebook @instagram #Meta #Facebook #Instagram https://www.foxnews.com/...
Sherry Pagoto, PhD / @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social: Zuckerberg is ending third party fact checking to allow for “more speech.” — He even throws in a nod to conservative ideology by referring to expert knowledge as no different than anyone else's: — “Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives.” — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Christian Katzenbach / @ckatzenbach.bsky.social: Wow, this Zuckerberg/Meta move is wild. He is now fully following the Musk playbook and aligning with the roll-back on the role and responsibility of platforms. “We want to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement...” about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy.bsky.social: Meta went to Fox News to announce it's ending its third-party fact checking program. Zuck isn't just kissing the ring, he's slobbering all over it. about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Mike Miller / RedState: WHOA: Meta Ends Fact-Checking As Zuckerberg Vows to Restore Free Expression on Facebook
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: Trump confirms that he watched Joel Kaplan's segment on Fox. Trump says it was a “news conference” but it was a normal interview.
Jochen Spangenberg / @jospang.bsky.social: In this video in which Mark #Zuckerberg announces the sweeping changes that will be implemented at #meta, he looks into the camera. I wonder: can he still look into the mirror considering what he's said?! Some of it is simply untrue! Such as factcheckers “censoring” about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge News: ‘Fact-Checkers Too Politically-Biased’ - Zuckerberg Abandons Facebook Censorship For X-Like Community Notes
Nicholas Ballasy / Just The News: Meta to replace its fact-checking program with system like X's community notes
Emily Baker-White / @ebakerwhite.bsky.social: again: moral arc going the wrong way — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
David Kaye / @davidakaye.bsky.social: the Xification of Meta, wrapped in the trumpified/muskified pretext of free speech when in fact it's simply obedience before power. about.fb.com/news/2025/01... [image]
Allie Funk / @alfunk.bsky.social: Content moderation is messy + will always lead to mistakes. But independent fact-checking helps reliable information & free expression flourish. — Framing this change as “good for free speech” plays into the false & dangerous narrative that all moderation is censorship. about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Sam J. / Twitchy: Mark Zuckerberg SUDDENLY Pretending He Gives a Damn About ‘Free Speech’ Does NOT Go Well (Watch)
Michael Geist / @mgeist.bsky.social: Meta with a huge political shift on content moderation. Describes own platforms as having engaged in too much censorship, moves content moderation from California to Texas, work with Trump to focus on global expression rights. Has implications for Canada's C-11 and C-18. — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
Brooke Singman / @brookesingman: NEW: @Meta says it sees “opportunities for partnership” with the incoming Trump admin on issues of free expression but also in “promoting American business and America's technological edge.” “Those are issues of great importance to Meta and our sector,” Joel Kaplan told me.
Siladitya Ray / Forbes: Meta Ditches Fact-Checks For X-Style Community Notes—Zuckerberg Says It Will Restore ‘Free Expression’
Travis Gettys / Raw Story: ‘Ending that completely’: Facebook gets rid of fact-checkers in wake of Trump's election
Brendan Nyhan / @brendannyhan.bsky.social: ✔️ Money to the Trump inaugural — ✔️ Dinner at Mar-a-Lago — ✔️ Getting rid of fact-checking — ✔️ Putting UFC's Dana White (a key Trump ally) on Meta's board — Hard not to see these moves as an effort to avoid being politically targeted by an illiberal president. …
Jlaur / WBAL Baltimore News: Facebook to rely on ‘Community Notes,’ replacing fact checkers, Zuckerberg says
Thomas Stevenson / The Post Millennial: BREAKING: Facebook ditches ‘fact-checkers,’ restores free speech ‘roots,’ to work with Trump to fight global censorship
Reuters: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will end third-party fact-checking, adopt Elon Musk's ‘Community Notes’ system on X
Sam Jeffers / @worklesshard.bsky.social: There's a lot in this announcement from Zuckerberg. — 1) Fact checkers all over the world (US first) are about to lose a big source of cash. — 2) They are going to slowly phase out human content moderation (as soon as the LLMs let them) — 3) Political content is back, baby. …
Will Ricciardella / @willricci: This is a big deal. Until their fact checking, FB was one of the places most people got their news. They took huge losses implementing this program. https://www.foxnews.com/...
Joel Kaplan / Joel Kaplan on LinkedIn: During a 2019 speech at Georgetown University, our CEO @Mark Zuckerberg argued that free expression has been the driving force behind progress …
Stephen McDermott / @stemcdermott.bsky.social: Meta has announced that it's ending its third-party fact-checking programme in the US and replacing it with Community Notes (as are seen on X). — It means third parties - like @factcheck.thejournal.ie - will no longer be able to flag misinfo on Facebook, Instagram or Threads in the US.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Meta will lift restrictions on “topics that are part of mainstream discourse”, like immigration and gender, and focus on “illegal and high-severity violations” — Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, today announced a major overhaul …
Discussion:
New York Times, User Mag, Wired, Fast Company, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Advocate, @daveminca.bsky.social, @accountabletech.bsky.social, Stefan Havik on LinkedIn, @zuck@threads.net, Bloomberg, @csmapnyu.org, @zuck@threads.net, @stefan@stefanbohacek.online, @thetranscript_, Eric Santamaria on LinkedIn, @zuck@threads.net, @esaagar, The Guardian, @mathver.bsky.social and @bennet.senate.gov, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Eve Upton-Clark / Fast Company: Instagram is in hot water for blocking LGBTQ+ content
Electronic Frontier Foundation: EFF Statement on Meta's Announcement of Revisions to Its Content Moderation Processes
Christopher Wiggins / Advocate: What LGBTQ+ people should know about Meta's new rules
Dave Min / @daveminca.bsky.social: Meta, which has major pending matters including an antitrust trial before the federal government, is abandoning any pretense of fact-checking the litany of lies we all know are coming from the incoming Trump administration. — This is pay-to-play politics at its worst. — www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
@accountabletech.bsky.social: Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged Donald Trump used his platform to incite a violent insurrection. — Now, Zuckerberg is re-opening the floodgates to the exact same surge of hate and disinformation that continue to spur real-world violence. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
Stefan Havik / Stefan Havik on LinkedIn: Mark pulling an Elon. ‘Promoting free speech’ by not fact checking anymore, loosening policies and filters, not being as harsh in blocking accounts anymore etc etc.... Sounds like an excellent idea …
Mark Zuckerberg / @zuck@threads.net: 4/ Bring back civic content. We're getting feedback that people want to see this content again, so we'll phase it back into Facebook, Instagram and Threads while working to keep the communities friendly and positive.
@csmapnyu.org: One important point here is that Meta's 3rd party fact checking program provided signals for its algorithm. That means if a user / page often posted content that received a fact check, their future content might be down-ranked in the algorithm & seen by fewer users. Will Meta replace these signals?
Mark Zuckerberg / @zuck@threads.net: 2/ Simplify our content policies and remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse.
Stefan Bohacek / @stefan@stefanbohacek.online: “Trump was asked about Meta's announcement at an unrelated news conference he was hosting at Mar-a-Lago. Trump said he watched Joel Kaplan's interview on Fox and found it “impressive,” adding that the company had “come a long way. …
@thetranscript_: $META CEO: “Here's what we're going to do: Replace fact-checkers with Community Notes, starting in the US. Simplify our content policies and remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse” [image]
Eric Santamaria / Eric Santamaria on LinkedIn: lol. I just uninstalled FB and IG is next. — Operational Mindset: — If Meta Content Moderation is having too many false positives, a root cause isn't using verified sources for validation. …
Mark Zuckerberg / @zuck@threads.net: 3/ Change how we enforce our policies to remove the vast majority of censorship mistakes by focusing our filters on tackling illegal and high-severity violations and requiring higher confidence for our filters to take action.
Saagar Enjeti / @esaagar: Mark Zuckerbergs announcement is a remarkable in that it has so many quiet parts out loud: he says the election is a cultural tipping point for free speech, that the “legacy media” is the driver of censorship, and that “immigration and gender” topics will no longer be censored
Chris Stokel-Walker / The Guardian: A new era of lies: Mark Zuckerberg has just ushered in an extinction-level event for truth on social media
Mathias Vermeulen / @mathver.bsky.social: Looks like we're in a full-speed race to the bottom when it comes to content moderation policies—especially in the US. 🚩https://techcrunch.com/2025/ 01/07/meta-drops-fact-checking-and- loosens-its-content-moderation- rules/
New York Times:
Meta will move trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas, to remove concerns “that biased employees are overly censoring content” — The social networking giant will stop using third-party fact checkers and instead rely on users to add notes to posts.
Discussion:
Deadline, The Hill, SFGATE, Quartz, Simon Chesterman on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Laurel Pinson on LinkedIn, Time, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Advocate, UPI, Press Gazette, Gizmodo, Business Insider, @luke_metro, El País, @zuck@threads.net, @hi.im.vijay@threads.net, @sfmcguire79, @samstein, The Present Age, Mock Paper Scissors, @stokel, @mikeisaac, @bethanyshondark, Breitbart, Entrepreneur, @meganiorio.bsky.social, The Forward, Engadget, WHDH-TV, @jeffreyatucker, @juddlegum.bsky.social, @stuntbox@mastodon.social, @micsolana, Sophie Nadeau on LinkedIn and @esaagar, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Ted Johnson / Deadline: In Another Bow To Donald Trump, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will End Fact Checking On Facebook And Instagram
Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill: Meta's fact-checking changes put company under political microscope
Stephen Council / SFGATE: California catches stray insult in theatrical Mark Zuckerberg announcement
William Gavin / Quartz: Mark Zuckerberg and Meta go all-in on Trump
Simon Chesterman / Simon Chesterman on LinkedIn: Great news! Recognizing the scale and impact of mis- and disinformation, Meta is increasing investment in fact-checking. Prove me wrong. https://lnkd.in/...
Laurel Pinson / Laurel Pinson on LinkedIn: Not surprised, but oof. Credible brand storytelling is only getting harder. — ⚠️ American trust in institutions is at a historic low …
Andrew R. Chow / Time: Why Meta's Fact-Checking Change Could Lead to More Misinformation on Facebook and Instagram
Christopher Wiggins / Advocate: Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook & Instagram will be more like X in second Trump term
Matthew Gault / Gizmodo: The Spirit of Facebook Is Moving From California to Texas
@luke_metro: So does this revert in 4 years if Dems win? Libs seem to palpably care less about content moderation than they did 4-8 years ago, unclear if this changes in a world where every big tech co is openly kissing ring of Trump admin
Raúl Limón / El País: Meta ends fact-checking program as it shifts closer to Trump and Elon Musk's platform
Mark Zuckerberg / @zuck@threads.net: 5/ Move our trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US content review to Texas. This will help remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content.
Vijay Pemmaraju / @hi.im.vijay@threads.net: “texas is less biased than california” is the funniest shit i've heard all year
Steve McGuire / @sfmcguire79: Haha, Zuckerberg says Meta is moving its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas so there will be “less concern about the bias of our teams.” [video]
Parker Molloy / The Present Age: Mark Zuckerberg Just Made His Trump Loyalty Pledge
Chris Stokel-Walker / @stokel: Moving the burned-out remains of what little trust and safety they intend to retain out of California and into Texas is the most dog-whistly dog whistle you've ever heard
Rat King / @mikeisaac: one more thing — Meta has always had teams of content moderators in Texas. the “uprooting them from california to texas to eliminate bias” is good optics for placing all of this rollout with Fox News as the announcement platform fascinating exercise in political theater
Bethany S. Mandel / @bethanyshondark: Meta is moving their moderation teams out of California and into Texas because the woke Silicon Valley bubble is toxic and can't handle free speech. [image]
Lucas Nolan / Breitbart: Mark Zuckerberg Promises Less Censorship on Facebook as He Scraps Biased Third-Party ‘Fact Checkers’
Sherin Shibu / Entrepreneur: Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program, Replaces It With New System: 'We've Seen This Approach Work on X'
Megan Iorio / @meganiorio.bsky.social: If the New York Times announced it was changing its entire editorial strategy to appease the incoming president it would signal the death of independent editorial discretion. When a tech oligarch does it, it somehow bolsters free expression? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/b...
Mira Fox / The Forward: The era of fact-checking is over, Meta says, even if it leads to more disinformation
Kris Holt / Engadget: Meta is ditching third-party fact checkers
James Kukstis / WHDH-TV: Meta gets rid of fact checkers and makes other major changes to moderation policies
Jeffrey A Tucker / @jeffreyatucker: The weirdest part is how he claims that all content moderation will move out of California and into Texas because Texans are actual normal people.
Judd Legum / @juddlegum.bsky.social: According to Mark Zuckerberg, people who live in California are biased but people who live in Texas are objective [image]
David Sleight / @stuntbox@mastodon.social: Countering lies with facts is not “censorship.” This is preemptive capitulation, wrapped in Orwellian double-speak. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mike Solana / @micsolana: meta is moving “trust and safety” from california to texas, let the hysterical screeching commence
Sophie Nadeau / Sophie Nadeau on LinkedIn: Very disappointing. Meta is moving to end its fact-checking program. Repositioning itself for the Trump era no doubt & now saying it's bring back “civic content.” …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will phase back in “civic content”, seemingly a reversal of earlier decisions against recommending political content — As a part of a significant overhaul of its content moderation policies announced on Tuesday, Meta admitted that its approach …
Discussion:
Ana Altchek / Business Insider: 4 ways your feed is expected to change under Meta's new free speech policy
Paola Robles Gil / @paolarg_photo@threads.net: Allowing political content *while* removing moderation is the main problem, in my opinion. It's not about freedom of speech at all, it's about giving the new administration another platform where they can spew their lies without any repercussions.
Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane@threads.net: That's the part that I'm not thrilled with The policy that I'm talking about is lifting the “political content” suppression. It goes both ways — with this change, we'll be able to advocate for queer rights and people outside of our following will be able to hear it
Jeff Franklin / @j3diwasabi@threads.net: Did they intentionally limit political content towards the end of the 2024 election? And then loosen the rules after inauguration? Really strange timing.
Taylor Howard / @taylorhoward@threads.net: I don't see how this is a good thing. Lifting the filters so ppl can have political discussions, fine. But the rest of this isn't about free speech. It's about not checking disinformation and propaganda. Propaganda and political discourse don't go hand in hand in a democracy. …
Mady / @mady.e2@threads.net: This is bad, Jane. He's explicitly allowing hate speech against trans people.
Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane@threads.net: Really thrilled to see these changes! Thank you Mark for lifting these limitations, and continue standing up against foreign adversaries' threats to freedom of speech/press I'll definitely come back to use Threads more often if they implement this by removing the “political content” filter that limits the platform's potential being a place for discussing important societal issues
Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane@threads.net: That said, I still believe that having both fact checkers and Community Notes would go hand in hand — Community Notes fills the gap on addressing more niche misinformation, while fact checkers (e.g. AFP) act as the authoritative source in the event of mass-scale misinformation
Marc Elias / @marc.e.elias@threads.net: After the election, I thought I might just cut back on social media. I had given up Facebook after the 2016 election in protest over its complicity with the Trump campaign. I had never really taken to Instagram and have no plans to ever support the Chinese-run TikTok. …
PolitiFact:
Neil Brown, president of PolitiFact's owner Poynter, said Zuckerberg's statement on fact checkers was “disappointing” and used “inflammatory and false language” — - NATIONAL - FACEBOOK FACT-CHECKS — Meta will end its eight-year partnership …
Discussion:
Fox News, New Republic, @klonick, @klonick, @klonick, @klonick, Breitbart, CNN, AV Club, @billadairduke, @billadairduke, @billadairduke, Bloomberg, Steven Waldman on LinkedIn, Neil Brown on LinkedIn, The Intercept, Twitchy, The Texas Tribune, The Hill, Mediaite, The Daily Sceptic, Business Insider, Irish Independent, Quartz, VentureBeat, Yen.com.gh, Blaze Media and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Fox News: PolitiFact executive rips Meta's Zuckerberg for announcing the end of fact-checking on his platforms
Kate Klonick / @klonick: Jack Goldsmith & @superwuster wrote presciently that this would happen in their 2006 book Who Controls the Internet? It has taken 12 years for that reality to come to fruition It's not a Cold War, it's a Scroll War. Who will control your feeds, information, online voice 6/
Kate Klonick / @klonick: A quick hit on my thoughts about the Meta decision around US based content moderation — each of which is basically getting fleshed out into longer op-eds and posts to come soon. But to get you started on some takeaways from Zuck's announcement here's a 🧵 1/
Kate Klonick / @klonick: 1) Maybe it seems small potatoes, but blaming politicized fact-checkers & ops for content moderation systems over-censoring is a total lie. Don't blame poor trust & safety workers for implementing the convoluted politics and messy policies that come from the C-suite! 2/
Kate Klonick / @klonick: It will be governments & companies The US & its companies claiming a fight for democracy against the regulation of EU & communism of China. China controlling manufacturing EU w/governance capacity & open markets & left out of the convo will be individuals, users, citizens 7/
Bill Adair / @billadairduke: It's sad in this political environment that Meta is abandoning its civic responsibility to moderate content. We saw four years ago how Facebook was a stew of misinformation that led to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Bill Adair / @billadairduke: It's troubling to see Mark Zuckerberg echo political attacks against fact-checkers because he knows that the ones that participated in his program were signatories of a code of principles that requires they be transparent and nonpartisan.
Bill Adair / @billadairduke: On Meta's decision to end third-party fact-checking: Fact-checkers weren't censors. They just provided information to Meta, which decided what to do with that information. It chose to demote or delete posts - not the fact-checkers.
Steven Waldman / Steven Waldman on LinkedIn: ""It perpetuates a misunderstanding of its own program," Brown said of Zuckerberg's statement. “ Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers never censored anything. …
Neil Brown / Neil Brown on LinkedIn: Here is my statement about Meta's decision to end its third-party fact-checking program: — “Facebook created this program with the good intentions …
Natasha Lennard / The Intercept: Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better.
Amy Curtis / Twitchy: Call a WAAAAAAmbulance! Politifact's Executive Director Is BIG MAD at Facebook's New Moderation Policies
Pavan Acharya / The Texas Tribune: Meta to move content moderators to Texas as part of move to end fact-checking program
Alex Gangitano / The Hill: Trump says Meta has ‘come a long way’ after it ends fact-checking program
Colby Hall / Mediaite: 'It's Gone Too Far': Mark Zuckerberg Ends Facebook Fact-Checking By Blaming Legacy Media and ‘Inclusive’ Movement
Will Jones / The Daily Sceptic: Facebook Dumps “Politically Biased” Fact-Checkers That Have “Destroyed More Trust Than They've Created”
Jyoti Mann / Business Insider: Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will ditch third-party fact-checkers for community notes
Adrian Weckler / Irish Independent: Meta to scrap fact checkers and some hate speech rules as Mark Zuckerberg says he and Donald Trump will go to war against EU
William Gavin / Quartz: Meta is giving up on fact-checking and doing it Elon Musk-style
Andrew Chapados / Blaze Media: Dana White joins Meta board of directors as Zuckerberg announces end to fact-checking and hiding political content
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone: Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Are Finding New Ways to Kiss Trump's Ass
David Gilbert / Wired:
Meta's fact-checking partners, including USA Today, say they were blindsided by Meta's decision to drop them and reject claims of being “too politically biased”
Discussion:
NBC News, Mediaite, Hollywood Life, Lead Stories, New York Times, @sydette@threads.net, @dell.bsky.social, Rachel Muller-Heyndyk on LinkedIn, Business Insider, @namshine.bsky.social, The Times of Israel, @thetnholler, @davidgilbert.bsky.social, @matthewfacciani.bsky.social, Ordinary Times, Variety, @katie-drummond.bsky.social, @baratunde@threads.net, @realpatrickwebb, KSLTV.com and r/Journalism, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
NBC News: Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of a ‘community notes’ system similar to X
Colby Hall / Mediaite: ‘Probably’: Trump Agrees that Zuckerberg's Pivot Is a Response to His ‘Threats’ Made Against Him
Nova Bajamonti / Hollywood Life: Meta Fact Checking Update: What's Changing on Facebook?
Maarten Schenk / Lead Stories: Meta Ends Third-Party Fact-Checking Partnership in the U.S.
Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times: Meta Says Fact-Checkers Were the Problem. Fact-Checkers Rule That False.
@sydette@threads.net: Are all the journalists etc Gonna continue saying it's sooooo much better than Twitter ? https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Dell Cameron / @dell.bsky.social: NEW: Meta blindsided its fact checkers this morning. No advanced notice. “We heard the news just like everyone else.” — Journalists who've been working with the company for years are scrambling to figure out if they still have jobs. — @davidgilbert.bsky.social reports:
Rachel Muller-Heyndyk / Rachel Muller-Heyndyk on LinkedIn: With the announcement that Meta is cutting its third party fact checking programme, it's alarming to read Zuckerberg's accusation that fact checking …
Pranav Dixit / Business Insider: Meta fact-checkers call an emergency meeting after Mark Zuckerberg pulls the plug
Nam Kiwanuka / @namshine.bsky.social: “Truth and facts serve everyone—not the right or the left—and that's what we will continue to deliver.” — Many of Meta's fact-checking partners have claimed that Zuckerberg blaming fact-checkers for over-the-top censorship on the company's platform was inaccurate..." — www.wired.com/story/metas-...
The Times of Israel: Meta announces replacement of fact-checking program with X-style community notes
@thetnholler: WATCH: “We're gonna get rid of fact-checkers...” In what looks almost like a hostage video, Zuckerberg bends the knee to Trump entirely — doing away with Facebook fact-checkers and moving the process to Texas under the guise of protecting free expression. [video]
David Gilbert / @davidgilbert.bsky.social: I spoke to Meta's fact-checking partners about today's announcement that Meta was giving up and implementing a Musk-style Community Notes model — “We were blindsided by this, We have no idea what the future looks like for the website going forward.” — www.wired.com/story/metas-...
Matthew Facciani / @matthewfacciani.bsky.social: “Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers never censored anything. And Meta always held the cards. It's time to quit invoking inflammatory and false language in describing the role of journalists and fact-checking.” — https://www.wired.com/story/metas- fact-checking-partners-blindsided/
Ellise Shafer / Variety: Meta to Drop Fact-Checking Program Because It's ‘Too Politically Biased,’ Adds Community Notes on Facebook and Instagram
Katie Drummond / @katie-drummond.bsky.social: “This was totally unexpected and out of left field for us. We weren't aware this decision was being considered until Mark dropped the video overnight.” — www.wired.com/story/metas-...
Baratunde Thurston / @baratunde@threads.net: Full. Of. Shite. This man serves capital, not people. That's his real job and we would do well to remember that. While he's out funding inaugurations to an unprecedented level and moving teams to Texas WE have a society to run. While he serves the money, we must serve each other. …
Michael Flaherty / Axios:
Getty Images Holdings and Shutterstock agree to merge in a deal that creates a $3.7B company; Getty CEO Craig Peters will remain CEO of the combined business — - Shutterstock shareholders get one of the following: $28.84 per share in cash; 13.67 shares of Getty for each Shutterstock share they own; or a mix of cash and stock.
Discussion:
Getty Images Press Site, Wall Street Journal, Leslie Hughes on LinkedIn, Eileen O'Donnell on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Neowin, @writingbymatt, TechCrunch, New York Post, Media Play News, Barron's Online, Press Gazette, Reuters, The Wrap, @gettyimages, Associated Press, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, @bwjones.bsky.social, @shutterstock, @matthew_sigel, @bwjones.bsky.social and Entrepreneur, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Steven Kanner / Getty Images Press Site: Getty Images and Shutterstock to Merge, Creating a Premier Visual Content Company
Leslie Hughes / Leslie Hughes on LinkedIn: Yes, Getty Images and Shutterstock merge. Getty will take the lead with a 55% ownership and Craig Peters will be CEO of the combined companies. …
Eileen O'Donnell / Eileen O'Donnell on LinkedIn: The speculation of a merger between Getty Images and Shutterstock was confirmed earlier today. It will be interesting to see how it goes through regulatory hurdles here and abroad. …
Aditya Tiwari / Neowin: Getty Images and Shutterstock are becoming one company
Matt Hunt / @writingbymatt: This merger @GettyImages + @Shutterstock is full of potential for some as well as the signal of collapse of editorial photography as a career path. If I was working only as a news photographer, I'd be seeking another job.
Ariel Zilber / New York Post: Getty Images, Shutterstock agree to merge in $3.7B deal as AI competition heats up
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News: Getty Images, Shutterstock Merging in $3.7 Billion Deal
Mackenzie Tatananni / Barron's Online: Getty Images Stock Rises 83% on Plans to Merge With Shutterstock
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette: Getty and Shutterstock agree $3.7bn merger
Adam Chitwood / The Wrap: Getty Images and Shutterstock to Merge in $3.7 Billion Deal
@gettyimages: Getty Images and @Shutterstock to merge, creating a premier visual content company at closing. Learn more at our official press announcement: https://newsroom.gettyimages.com/ ... [image]
Michelle Chapman / Associated Press: Getty Images and Shutterstock will merge into $3.7 billion photo, video and music media company
Ciara Linnane / MarketWatch: Getty's stock soars 42% after image company agrees to merge with Shutterstock in $3.7 billion deal
@bwjones.bsky.social: Getty, Shutterstock, and Corbis absolutely destroyed the market for photographers. Image licensing went from rates that could support a family to effectively nothing. — But that's not enough for them. [embedded post]
@shutterstock: Shutterstock and @GettyImages to merge, creating a premier visual content company at closing. Visit our investor page at https://investor.shutterstock.com/ to read our official press announcement.
@matthew_sigel: Getty & Shutterstock merge, timing it smartly to sidestep the antitrust agitation of the current administration. Both stocks up. Shutterstock's take rate, the highest among internet peers at 65-80%, squeezes contributors. Blockchain-based content networks look better by the day [image]
@bwjones.bsky.social: Personally, I had image licensing go from $5300/image for worldwide licensing in all languages to $10 or less after Getty, Shutterstock, and Corbis entered the market. — That delta went from photographers to shareholders and executives. — Changed my life, not in good ways.
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Washington Post is laying off roughly 4% of its workforce, affecting fewer than 100 people across its business divisions; its newsroom is not affected — The layoffs will affect employees across The Post's business operations, not its newsroom. — The Washington Post …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Reuters, Adweek, @alex, @pkafka, @patio11, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @davidzmorris, New York Post, Townhall, Fox Business, The Daily Beast, @benmullin, @alexbruell, Deadline, Axios, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, The Wrap, @tomaxwell, Press Gazette, @corbinbolies, @sarafischer and r/Journalism
Discussion:
Ray Schultz / MediaPost: ‘The Washington Post’ Institutes New Layoff
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters: Washington Post to lay off 4% of staff to cut costs
Peter Kafka / @pkafka: @maxwelltani Give you a dollar or buy you a drink (or both) if you can find a mass layoff where the employees say they think things were handled well.
Patrick McKenzie / @patio11: As I've mentioned a few times over the years, news outlets which had a de facto policy of turning their reporters/writers/etc into uncompensated distribution specialists have learned to their displeasure that getting good at distribution pays a lot better than they do.
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Interestingly, as part of today's cuts/changes, the Washington Post is changing up its PR strategy, launching a “Star Talent Unit” and eliminating dedicated PR pushes to traditional and broadcast outlets. [image]
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Some WaPo biz staff are frustrated with the way the layoffs were handled. In Slack, one employee noted that they were laid off by email, another staffer on the West Coast said because of the time zone difference they found out from a colleague that they were being laid off.
David Z. Morris / @davidzmorris: Whether or not it's where we would like the industry to be, the Post is absolutely correct that individual journalists are what readers care about. It is also true, of course, that they're digging their own grave by building profiles that will spin out to Substack etc.
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post: Washington Post media critic blasts his own paper for keeping mum over spiking anti-Bezos cartoon
Leah Barkoukis / Townhall: WaPo Lays Off 4 Percent of Its Workforce
Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast: Bezos' Crisis-Hit Paper Axes Dozens in Cash Crunch
Ben Mullin / @benmullin: news: The Washington Post has begun laying off staff. It's cutting roughly 4% of its total staff, or fewer than 100 people https://www.nytimes.com/...
Alexandra Bruell / @alexbruell: The Washington Post is eliminating just under 100 roles on the business side. Newsroom not impacted at this time. Post statement: “Changes across our business functions are all in service of our greater goal to best position The Post for the future.”
Sara Fischer / Axios: The Washington Post lays off 4% staff
Bill Grueskin / @bgrueskin.bsky.social: Washpost cuts amount to 4 percent of the workforce, but newsroom (which lost 240 jobs to buyouts previously) is spared in this round. Via @benmullin.bsky.social — www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/b...
Sean Burch / The Wrap: Washington Post Lays Off Roughly 100 Employees
Thomas Maxwell / @tomaxwell: The company was already struggling with subscriber growth before it lost 250k subscribers after @JeffBezos stopped its editorial team from making a presidential endorsement, so this was expected
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette: 2025 journalism job cuts tracked: Washington Post lays off non-newsroom staff
Corbin Bolies / @corbinbolies: news: The Post Guild, in an email to WaPo staffers, said it was “deeply saddened and concerned” by today's layoffs. “This is a really, really hard time, coming after a really hard time, which came after a really hard time at the company.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: Apple plans to expand Apple News in more countries and considered building locally focused news coverage in the UK; Apple News has 125M monthly users — Tech group now a force in driving revenues for publishers in US, UK, Canada and Australia — Apple is stepping up plans to expand …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Neowin, Benzinga, 9to5Mac, Center for Cooperative Media, iPhone in Canada Blog, BGR, @simonowens and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Rob Griffin / Press Gazette: How publishers can avoid affiliate marketing pitfalls and find new revenue
Sagar Naresh Bhavsar / Neowin: Report: Apple planning to bring its News app to more countries
Anusuya Lahiri / Benzinga: Apple Analyst Flags iPhone AI Struggles, Google Deal Risks
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: Report: Apple News app may finally expand to more countries
Will Fischer / Center for Cooperative Media: Q&A: Ned Berke on how BlueLena supports local publishers with sustainable reader revenue strategies
John Quintet / iPhone in Canada Blog: Apple News Eyes Further Expansion, Now Reaching 125M Monthly Users
Simon Owens / @simonowens: Apple News now has 125 million monthly users. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the largest traffic referrer for legacy news outlets outside of Google. The question remains as to how much revenue this is really driving for publishers. The company has been tight-lipped about the
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Peacock plans to pilot five mini-games and a short-form vertical video feed on its iOS and Android apps this month before a broader rollout later this spring — As Peacock continues to trail behind major players in the entertainment industry like Netflix, TikTok, and YouTube …
Discussion:
Aditya Tiwari / Neowin: NBC's Peacock to start testing mini-games and short videos
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia unveil an AI assistant for streamers that can act as a cohost and provide technical support for streams in real time — Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia are partnering on a new AI assistant for streamers that can provide technical support for streams in real time and even act as a quippy cohost.
Discussion:
Benzinga, VentureBeat, Wccftech, Streamlabs, NVIDIA Studio on Instagram and Streamlabs on YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Inworld AI teams with Nvidia and Streamlabs on intelligent streaming assistant
Alessio Palumbo / Wccftech: Inworld AI Partners with NVIDIA and Streamlabs to Unveil the World's First Intelligent Streaming Assistant
Ethan May / Streamlabs: Introducing Streamlabs' New Intelligent Streaming Assistant in Collaboration with NVIDIA and Inworld AI
NVIDIA Studio on Instagram: 🎥 Experience Game-Changing Livestreaming w/ GeForce RTX 50 Series: ⚡Up to (3) 9th-gen NVIDIA Encoders 🧑@Streamlabs Intelligent Streaming Assistant powered by NVIDIA ACE & @inworldai_studio announced 🎙️Coming Soon: #NVIDIABroadcast Update w/ beta AI effects: Virtual Key Light & Studio Voice
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Roku says it passed 90M US streaming households in the first week of January, up from 85.5M in October, and is now in nearly half of all US broadband households — Roku, the pioneer of streaming on TV, passed 90 million streaming households in the first week of January, a milestone, it said …
Discussion:
The Desk, Broadband TV News, Streaming Better, Media Play News, Roku, Inc., The Streamable and @tvgrimreaper
Discussion:
Matthew Keys / The Desk: Roku surpasses 90 million streaming TV households
Julian Clover / Broadband TV News: Roku reaches 90 million streaming households
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News: Roku Household Subs Top 90 Million
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