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:
Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram, CNN, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, RedState, 6abc, BBC, @brendancarrfcc, IJR, @elonmusk, @angieholan, Philippe Zaouati on LinkedIn, Jeanniey Walden on LinkedIn, Politico, The Information, Fast Company, @jamessurowiecki, New Republic, @mikeisaac, @jim_jordan, The Verge, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, News18, Twitchy, @chavalarias.bsky.social, One Man & His Blog, New York Times, PinkNews, @mark_penn, @antoniogm, @wexler, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, @econ_marshall, @reckless.bsky.social, @surabees, @jtlonsdale, @stroughtonsmith …, @eric_seufert, Theodoros Evgeniou on LinkedIn, American Greatness, Benzinga, Fox News, @semaforben, @koltai.bsky.social, @randpaul, @adrianweckler, The Barbed Wire, @schooley.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, Blaze Media, Business Insider, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @apompliano, @antoniogm, Daring Fireball, @andymstone, @mgeist, Dexerto, Engadget, @danprimack, @aidnmclaughlin, Beyond Search, @dpdiver.bsky.social, RetailWire, @basedbeffjezos, @dtrinh, NPR, City A.M., @oversightboard, @antoniogm, @btucker.bsky.social, @michaelmiraflor, @kylascan, @emollick, Ars Technica, @bobbyallyn, Inbal Goldberger on LinkedIn, @karaswisher@threads.net, Digby's Hullabaloo, @carolecadwalla, @counterhate.com, @mmasnick.bsky.social, The Guardian, Boing Boing, @brianstelter, The Wrap, @chrislhayes.bsky.social, @jessicalessin, @rmac.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, GB News, MediaPost, @mcuban@threads.net, freebeacon.com, @parkermolloy@threads.net, @dsilverman@threads.net, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Free Press, Oversight Board, @simondowens@threads.net, @martinsfp@threads.net, Townhall, @drewharwell.com, Prof. Annabelle Gawer on LinkedIn, Semafor, @marietjeschaake.bsky.social, @timobrien.bsky.social, @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social, @drandrealove.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @kevinrothrock.me, PhoneArena, NewsBytes, NTD, @moonalice.com, Jon-Stephen Stansel on LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal, @outnproud.bsky.social, @alistaircoleman.bsky.social, @jospang.bsky.social, @lorak.bsky.social, @adamserwer.bsky.social and @lakewitchhouse.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
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.
Clare Duffy / CNN: Meta makes major changes to moderation policies
Ted Johnson / Deadline: In Another Bow To Donald Trump, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will End Fact Checking On Facebook And Instagram
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter: Mark Zuckerberg: Meta Will End Fact-Checking Program, Says It's “Too Politically Biased”
Teri Christoph / RedState: Sorry, Zuck, but There's No Reason for Conservatives to Trust You and Your Newfound Love for Free Speech
Liv McMahon / BBC: Facebook and Instagram get rid of fact checkers
Brendan Carr / @brendancarrfcc: @brianstelter [image]
IJR: 'Could've Done Whatever': Strategist Rips Zuckerberg For Dodging ‘Responsibility’ After Denouncing Fact Checkers
Elon Musk / @elonmusk: This is cool [image]
Angie Drobnic Holan / @angieholan: Here's my statement on @Meta ending factchecking program. [image]
Philippe Zaouati / Philippe Zaouati on LinkedIn: Freedom of expression or battlefield? The risks for ESG in light of Meta's new direction — Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement …
Jeanniey Walden / Jeanniey Walden on LinkedIn: While #CES2025 is buzzing with everything #AI from helping people see, curing cancer and mobilizing efficiency in every way …
Derek Robertson / Politico: Is Zuckerberg kneeling to Trump? It's not so simple.
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.”
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
News18: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta To Replace Third Party Fact Checkers With Community Notes Like Musk's X | US
David Chavalarias / @chavalarias.bsky.social: The pb is that community notes just don't work! As — @paulbouchaud.com and other scholarly articles have measured, far-right ppl tend not to express agreement with progressives even if the latter are right, so community ratings are biased in favor of the far-right. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Adam Tinworth / One Man & His Blog: My top 10 posts of 2024: the bottom half
Kate Conger / New York Times: Meta Turns to Community Notes, Mirroring X
Amelia Hansford / PinkNews: Meta to get rid of social media fact checkers to promote so-called ‘free speech’
Mark Penn / @mark_penn: Hooray for the end of “fact checking” This is a major win for free speech and for the community note system of dealing with bad speech with more speech instead of censorship. X and Musk led the way here.
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.
Elaine Mallon / Washington Examiner: Jewish group expects antisemitism to ‘flourish’ online with Meta changes
Wendell Husebo / Breitbart: ‘Huge Win for Free Speech’: Republicans Cheer Facebook's Retreat from Censorship
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 …
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
Theodoros Evgeniou / Theodoros Evgeniou on LinkedIn: This video will remain in history... incredible he said all this... wow. — https://lnkd.in/...
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’
Fox News: JONATHAN TURLEY: Meta's Zuckerberg makes a free speech move that could be truly transformational
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/...
Leslie Rangel / The Barbed Wire: Meta Moves Teams to Texas Over ‘Concern’ of ‘Biased Employees’ in California
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]
Paul Serran / The Gateway Pundit: ‘This Is Cool’: Musk Praises Zuckerberg for Ending ‘Fact-Checking Censorship’ and Adopting X-Style Community Notes
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]
John Gruber / Daring Fireball: ★ After Years of Moderation-Heavy Zagging, Zuckerberg Announces That Meta Is Going to Back to Moderation-Light Zigging Across Its Platforms
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.
Dylan Horetski / Dexerto: Mark Zuckerberg reveals Community Notes feature for Instagram
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
Stephen E. Arnold / Beyond Search: FOGINT: Divergent Trajectories for Facebook and Telegram
Dave / @dpdiver.bsky.social: Sad to see the effective death of the Christchurch Call. Luxon had already done what he could to kneecap it by cancelling Jacinda Ardern's ongoing role. Now Meta is reversing it's Christchurch Call commitments, giving free rein to right wing terrorism online. #nzpol — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
Nicholas Morine / RetailWire: Meta Drops Fact Checkers on Facebook and Instagram, Citing Political Bias and Censorship Concerns
@basedbeffjezos: Woah. 😲 Zuck going full anti-censorship, following Elon and X's lead 😤 Based Zuck arc and vibe shift complete ✅🔥 [video]
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/...
Saskia Koopman / City A.M.: Zuckerberg's Meta drops fact checking filters in return to ‘free speech’
@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]
Antonio García Martínez / @antoniogm: OH in the group chat: “I guess Elon won that cage match after all.”
Barry Tucker / @btucker.bsky.social: Mark Zuckerberg is ending fact-checking on his SM platforms, replacing it with a community driven system similar to X's Community Notes. — So anyone can post anything, someone can deny or refute it & no-one will be any the wiser, or better informed. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
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]
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. …
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/...
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]
@counterhate.com: 🚨X's Community Notes utterly failed to counter false and misleading claims about the U.S. election. — Now, Mark Zuckerberg is copying Musk's flawed system in a HUGE step back in Meta's efforts to stop hate & misinformation.
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.
Blake Montgomery / The Guardian: Why did Mark Zuckerberg end Facebook and Instagram's factchecking program?
Jason Weisberger / Boing Boing: Zuckerberg: facts get in the way of free speech
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/...
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.
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
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.
@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.
Aaron Brown / GB News: Facebook culls fact-checkers and mimics Elon Musk in bid to ‘restore’ free speech on social media
Joe Mandese / MediaPost: X Marks The Spot: Meta Capitulates, Ends Fact-Checking
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. …
Matthew Xiao / freebeacon.com: ‘Gone Too Far’: Meta CEO Zuckerberg Vows To Get Rid of ‘Politically Biased’ Fact-Checkers, Eliminate ‘Censorship’
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/...
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. …
@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.
Amy Kroin / Free Press: Meta's Abandonment of Content Moderation and Fact Checking Points to a Chilling New Era …
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.
@martinsfp@threads.net: Zuck's obvious bootlicking aside, community notes on Facebook will be a hilarious mess.
Leah Barkoukis / Townhall: With Trump's Return, Meta's Zuckerberg Announces Major Changes at Its Social Media Platforms
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]
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 …
Mathias Hammer / Semafor: Meta ends fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram
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- ...
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- ...
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- ...
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/
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]
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- ...
Sebastian Pier / PhoneArena: Zuck admits Facebook has been “censoring too much” and ends fact-checking practices
Zachary Stieber / NTD: Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program in US, Introduces X-style Community Notes
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- ...
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? …
Gareth Vipers / Wall Street Journal: Meta Ends Fact-Checking on Facebook, Instagram in Free-Speech Pitch
@outnproud.bsky.social: Forget living in the “Information Age” — We live in the “Misinformation Age” — www.nbcnews.com/tech/social- ...
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- ...
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- ...
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- ...
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
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, Reuters, MediaPost, Mo Dezyanian on LinkedIn, Roy Ka-Wei Lee on LinkedIn, Politico, Matthew Ganz on LinkedIn, New York Post, @davidclinchnews, @andymstone, @brookesingman, Siouxsie Jennett on LinkedIn, @francisbrennan, The Information, Talking Points Memo, The Bulwark, @brookesingman, @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social, @ckatzenbach.bsky.social, @christianhaag.bsky.social, @brianstelter, Townhall, @jospang.bsky.social, Raw Story, @tek@todon.eu, Tubefilter, @brookesingman, Business Insider, The Hill, @lisaocarroll.bsky.social, Krista L. Baughman on LinkedIn, Adweek, Washington Examiner, Fast Company, Jean Burgess on LinkedIn, Reclaim The Net, Mother Jones, @willricci, CNN, Daily Kos, ZeroHedge News, Axios, @alfalphamale.bsky.social, @ebakerwhite.bsky.social, Joel Kaplan on LinkedIn, @davidakaye.bsky.social, @mgeist.bsky.social, @nickjcal.bsky.social, @alfunk.bsky.social, @dmeyer.eu, Reuters, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, WBAL Baltimore News, Forbes, @mschenk.bsky.social, @worklesshard.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @stemcdermott.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Eloise Goldsmith / Common Dreams: Facebook Follows X Down Path to Becoming Right-Wing ‘Cesspool’ by Ending Fact-Checking Efforts
Ray Schultz / MediaPost: Meta Halts Fact-Checking In A Move Praised By Trump
Mo Dezyanian / Mo Dezyanian on LinkedIn: More speech and Fewer Mistakes! — This video will set the tone for 2025 and it is the most important video if you're a brand that is advertising on Meta! …
Roy Ka-Wei Lee / Roy Ka-Wei Lee on LinkedIn: We are entering a new era of Meta content moderation. Meta is ending Third Party Fact Checking Program, moving to Community Notes. — What is Community Note? …
Csongor Körömi / Politico: Zuck goes full Musk, dumps Facebook fact-checking program
Matthew Ganz / Matthew Ganz on LinkedIn: Seriously, what am I watching here? — “Our complex systems suck, our filters suck...”. — They can't build systems to strip …
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/...
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.”
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. …
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/...
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: Zuckerberg Achieves Trump Lap Monkey Badge And Other Platform News
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark: Mark Zuckerberg Is a Surrender Monkey
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...
Christian Haag / @christianhaag.bsky.social: Labelling fact checking as censorship is a rich claim when Meta wrote the policy and solely enforced it regarding which content was removed or demoted. — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
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.
Matt Vespa / Townhall: CNN's Media Reporter Did Not Just Tweet This About Facebook's Changes to ‘Fact-Checking’
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...
Jennifer Bowers Bahney / Raw Story: Meghan McCain called out for blocking trolls — after praising Trump era of anti-censorship
@tek@todon.eu: It is wild to see such a shift of all companies toward Trump and Musk far right values, Mark Zuckerberg's speech is really scary https://about.fb.com/...
James Hale / Tubefilter: Meta axes fact-checking program, is working with Trump administration to “promote free expression”
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.
Alex Gangitano / The Hill: Trump says Meta has ‘come a long way’ after it ends fact-checking program
Lisa O'Carroll / @lisaocarroll.bsky.social: What an eventful day in the US. Even the URL in Zuckerberg's “Europe is evil” (paraphrasing) speech interesting. — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
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. …
David Cohen / Adweek: Meta Scraps Third-Party Fact-Checking For X-like Community Notes. Some Claim It's Gone ‘Full MAGA’
Emily Hallas / Washington Examiner: Zuckerberg following Musk's lead in axing ‘fact-checkers’ on Meta
Scott Nover / Fast Company: Fact-checking on Facebook was already a lost cause
Jean Burgess / Jean Burgess on LinkedIn: The ideal universal right to free speech is critically dependent on the maintenance of other rights. …
Christina Maas / Reclaim The Net: Free Speech or Reputation Repair? Meta's Bid to Start Over Now It's Politically Convenient
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/...
Brian Stelter / CNN: Mark Zuckerberg's MAGA makeover will reshape the entire internet
Oliver Willis / Daily Kos: Zuckerberg's Meta follows Musk's X into misinformation
Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge News: ‘Fact-Checkers Too Politically-Biased’ - Zuckerberg Abandons Facebook Censorship For X-Like Community Notes
@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...
Emily Baker-White / @ebakerwhite.bsky.social: again: moral arc going the wrong way — about.fb.com/news/2025/01...
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 …
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]
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...
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?
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...
David Meyer / @dmeyer.eu: Meta does a U-turn on content moderation about.fb.com/news/2025/01... A couple of thoughts...
Reuters: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will end third-party fact-checking, adopt Elon Musk's ‘Community Notes’ system on X
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
Siladitya Ray / Forbes: Meta Ditches Fact-Checks For X-Style Community Notes—Zuckerberg Says It Will Restore ‘Free Expression’
Maarten Schenk / @mschenk.bsky.social: Given how well Community Notes are working on X this is troubling...
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. …
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...
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, GLAAD, @zuck@threads.net, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Advocate, @csmapnyu.org, @stefan@stefanbohacek.online, @stuartathompson.bsky.social, @thetranscript_, Stefan Havik on LinkedIn, Eric Santamaria on LinkedIn, @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @esaagar, @bennet.senate.gov, @daveminca.bsky.social, Anna Derkach on LinkedIn, Kate Knibbs on LinkedIn, @accountabletech.bsky.social, @mathver.bsky.social, @zuck@threads.net and @zuck@threads.net, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
GLAAD: GLAAD RESPONSE: META AND MARK ZUCKERBERG REMOVE LONG-STANDING ANTI-LGBTQ HATE SPEECH POLICIES AFTER ANNOUNCING END OF FACT-CHECKING PROGRAM
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.
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
@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?
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. …
Stuart A. Thompson / @stuartathompson.bsky.social: meta's decision to end its fact-checking partnership came as a surprise to the fact-checking partners. especially since they were in talks a few weeks ago to continue, and one had already signed a new contact www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
@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]
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 …
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. …
Joe Bak-Coleman / @jbakcoleman.bsky.social: Given this news, it is probably time for academics and academic institutions such as @cos.io to cut tyes with Meta. — www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
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
Michael Bennet / @bennet.senate.gov: Meta's decision to end fact-checking will supercharge the misinformation that runs rampant on our digital platforms, further distorting our reality and undermining our democracy. — These new policies serve the interests of Donald Trump, not the American people.
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...
Anna Derkach / Anna Derkach on LinkedIn: The announcement that Meta will discontinue its third-party fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads is deeply troubling. …
Kate Knibbs / Kate Knibbs on LinkedIn: Meta announced major changes to its content moderation policy earlier this morning, and it says it will take some time to roll them all out. …
@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...
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/
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.
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:
Mediaite, Poynter, Twitchy, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, HotAir, @klonick, @billadairduke, Yahoo Finance, New Republic, @klonick, @billadairduke, @klonick, Ordinary Times, Steven Waldman on LinkedIn, @billadairduke, Irish Independent, AV Club, Bloomberg, Breitbart, Neil Brown on LinkedIn, VentureBeat, Blaze Media, The Intercept, @klonick, Fox News, The Texas Tribune, The Daily Sceptic, Fortune, RedState, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, IJR, Yen.com.gh, Quartz and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Charlie Nash / Mediaite: Fact Checker Condemns Facebook for Cutting Ties With ‘First Responders’ of the Internet
Geoff Bennett / PBS NewsHour: As Meta drops fact-checking, critics fear it could pave the way for a misinformation spike
Queenie Wong / Los Angeles Times: Meta is following X's playbook on fact-checking. Here's what it means for you
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/
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.
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/
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.
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/
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. …
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.
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
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 …
Andrew Chapados / Blaze Media: Dana White joins Meta board of directors as Zuckerberg announces end to fact-checking and hiding political content
Natasha Lennard / The Intercept: Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better.
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/
Pavan Acharya / The Texas Tribune: Meta to move content moderators to Texas as part of move to end fact-checking program
Will Jones / The Daily Sceptic: Facebook Dumps “Politically Biased” Fact-Checkers That Have “Destroyed More Trust Than They've Created”
Alena Botros / Fortune: Mark Zuckerberg takes a cue from Elon Musk: Facebook and Instagram will ditch fact checking and instead rely on community notes
Brandon Morse / RedState: Zuckerberg Is Following the More Lucrative Path Elon Set as Predicted, but Should We Trust Him?
Gage Klipper / The Daily Caller: Zuck Stepping Out Of The Muck: Facebook Founder Announces Seismic Shift Against Censorship
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone: Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Are Finding New Ways to Kiss Trump's Ass
Brent D. Griffiths / Business Insider: Trump says Mark Zuckerberg is ‘probably’ responding to his previous threats by changing Meta's direction
Andrew Powell / IJR: Meta Shuts Down Fact-Checking: Zuckerberg Champions Free Speech
William Gavin / Quartz: Meta is giving up on fact-checking and doing it Elon Musk-style
Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill: Meta ending fact-checking program: Zuckerberg
Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:
Meta's fact-checking partners PolitiFact and FactCheck.org say they had no role in deciding what the company did with the content that was fact-checked — Fact-checking groups that worked with Meta said they had no role in deciding what the company did with the content that was fact-checked.
Discussion:
Fox News, RedState, The Hill, Reason, Racket News, The Forward, Business Insider, KSLTV.com, Twitchy and Al Jazeera, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Fox News: Internet roasts NYT headline about fact-checkers ruling Meta criticism of fact checks ‘false:’ ‘Beyond parody’
Streiff / RedState: Meta's Fact Checkers Rush to Buy Refrigerator Cartons as Homelessness Looms After Zuckerberg Announcement
Matt Taibbi / Racket News: On Mark Zuckerberg's Speech Announcement
Mira Fox / The Forward: The era of fact-checking is over, Meta says, even if it leads to more disinformation
Pranav Dixit / Business Insider: Meta fact-checkers call an emergency meeting after Mark Zuckerberg pulls the plug
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will phase “civic content” back in, seemingly a reversal of earlier decisions against proactively recommending political content — As a part of a significant overhaul of its content moderation policies announced on Tuesday, Meta admitted that its approach …
Discussion:
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. …
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. …
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
Mady / @mady.e2@threads.net: This is bad, Jane. He's explicitly allowing hate speech against trans people.
Ana Altchek / Business Insider: 4 ways your feed is expected to change under Meta's new free speech policy
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
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:
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Discussion:
Cam Wilson / Crikey: Meta's fact-checking to continue in Australia this year despite sunsetting in the US
NBC News: Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of a ‘community notes’ system similar to X
Ellise Shafer / Variety: Meta to Drop Fact-Checking Program Because It's ‘Too Politically Biased,’ Adds Community Notes on Facebook and Instagram
Fox News: Fact-checking firm staffed by CNN alums takes Meta axing hard: ‘surprised and disappointed’
Richard Lawler / The Verge: Here are some of the horrible things that you can now say on Instagram and Facebook
Miranda Nazzaro / The Hill: Meta's fact-checking changes put company under political microscope
@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-...
Maarten Schenk / Lead Stories: Meta Ends Third-Party Fact-Checking Partnership in the U.S.
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/
Margi Conklin / The Free Press: Facebook's Fact-Checkers Changed the Way I See Tech—and Speech—Forever
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-...
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. …
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 …
Patrick Webb / @realpatrickwebb: BREAKING: Fact-checkers claim they were blindsided by Meta's decision to end their partnerships and reportedly fear they won't be able to secure new business to fill the void, potentially putting them at risk of going out of business, according to Wired.
Nova Bajamonti / Hollywood Life: Meta Fact Checking Update: What's Changing on Facebook?
Rat King / @mikeisaac.bsky.social: a bit on inside Meta and the employee reaction to Zuckerberg's policy shift — in short: it was met with a mix of both praise and horror — but “moving moderators from california to texas to eliminate bias” was a line of realpolitik that some were unable to stomach — www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/t... …
@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:
Lisa Kalayji / @LisaKalayji@infosec.exchange: “Fact-checkers claim they had no idea the company was going to end their partnerships and are scrambling to figure out the financial implications of the move. — “Meta didn't owe fact-checkers anything, but it knows that by pulling this partnership it's removing a very significant source of funding for the ecosystem globally …
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”
Discussion:
Business Insider, Washington Post, @luke_metro, @hi.im.vijay@threads.net, New York Post, @sfmcguire79, @samstein, Press Gazette, SFGATE, Mock Paper Scissors, @stokel, Laurel Pinson on LinkedIn, @mikeisaac, Gizmodo, @bethanyshondark, Entrepreneur, Simon Chesterman on LinkedIn, @anildash@threads.net, Time, @veyizmir.bsky.social, @jeffreyatucker, @micsolana, @esaagar, @meganiorio.bsky.social, @juddlegum.bsky.social, Mediaite, Sophie Nadeau on LinkedIn, Just The News, News18, @stuntbox@mastodon.social and @zuck@threads.net, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Business Insider: Meta's done with fact-checking — and its CMO says Trump and changing ‘vibes in America’ are major reasons why
@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
Vijay Pemmaraju / @hi.im.vijay@threads.net: “texas is less biased than california” is the funniest shit i've heard all year
Taylor Herzlich / New York Post: Mark Zuckerberg wears rare $900K Swiss watch to reveal major shift on Meta's free speech: report
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]
Stephen Council / SFGATE: California catches stray insult in theatrical Mark Zuckerberg announcement
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
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 …
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
Matthew Gault / Gizmodo: The Spirit of Facebook Is Moving From California to Texas
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]
Sherin Shibu / Entrepreneur: Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program, Replaces It With New System: 'We've Seen This Approach Work on X'
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/...
Anil Dash / @anildash@threads.net: You chose Texas so that any staff who needed access to abortion care or gender affirming care couldn't possibly be working in safety roles on the team, right? Why not say it out loud instead of censoring yourself? “We wanted to make sure no women or trans people had power in content moderation.”
Andrew R. Chow / Time: Why Meta's Fact-Checking Change Could Lead to More Misinformation on Facebook and Instagram
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.
Mike Solana / @micsolana: meta is moving “trust and safety” from california to texas, let the hysterical screeching commence
Saagar Enjeti / @esaagar: Zuck announces Meta's content moderation team will be moved from California to Texas to insulate the team from cultural bias
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...
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]
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.” …
Nicholas Ballasy / Just The News: Meta to replace its fact-checking program with system like X's community notes
Shankhyaneel Sarkar / News18: Zuckerberg Removes Meta's Fact-Checkers For X-Like ‘Community Notes’, Elon Musk Approves
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/...
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, Seattle Business Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, @writingbymatt, Eileen O'Donnell on LinkedIn, Neowin, @gettyimages, @shutterstock, @matthew_sigel, Entrepreneur, RetailWire, Leslie Hughes on LinkedIn, News18, Media Play News, City A.M., @bwjones.bsky.social, @bwjones.bsky.social, MarketWatch, Reuters, Barron's Online and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Steven Kanner / Getty Images Press Site: Getty Images and Shutterstock to Merge, Creating a Premier Visual Content 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.
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
@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]
@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]
Erin Davis / Entrepreneur: Getty and Shutterstock Are Merging. Here's What It Means for Creators and Businesses.
Nicholas Morine / RetailWire: Getty Images To Merge With Shutterstock and Create $3.7B Company as AI Threatens Stock Photo Industry
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. …
Shankhyaneel Sarkar / News18: ‘Never Been A Better Time To Come Together’: Rivals Getty Images, Shutterstock To Merge
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News: Getty Images, Shutterstock Merging in $3.7 Billion Deal
Saskia Koopman / City A.M.: Getty Images and Shutterstock announce merger
@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.
@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]
Ciara Linnane / MarketWatch: Getty's stock soars 42% after image company agrees to merge with Shutterstock in $3.7 billion deal
Mackenzie Tatananni / Barron's Online: Getty Images Stock Rises 83% on Plans to Merge With Shutterstock
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:
Deadline, @alex, @pkafka, New York Post, The Daily Beast, @benmullin, Mercury News, Adweek, @charlottetklein.bsky.social, @alexbruell, @patio11, Townhall, The Wrap, @cnn.com, @maxwelltani, @tomaxwell, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Press Gazette, Reuters, Fox Business, @maxwelltani, @davidzmorris, @corbinbolies, @sarafischer, Axios, @bgrueskin.bsky.social and r/Journalism
Discussion:
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.
Ariel Zilber / New York Post: Washington Post lays off 4% of workforce as turmoil engulfs Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper
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/...
Charlotte Klein / @charlottetklein.bsky.social: The Washington Post laid off most of their PR team as part of today's cuts. Comms chief Kathy Baird said in an email to her team that the Post will “stop the dedicated practice of publicity for our journalism across broadcast and traditional media outlets.”
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.”
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.
Leah Barkoukis / Townhall: WaPo Lays Off 4 Percent of Its Workforce
Sean Burch / The Wrap: Washington Post Lays Off Roughly 100 Employees
@cnn.com: The Washington Post on Tuesday laid off roughly 100 employees across its business division, the latest indication of the newspaper's financial woes after subscribers and staffers revolted over owner Jeff Bezos's decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
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]
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
Kenny Smith / @kennysmith.bsky.social: There was The Washington Post, the newsroom of Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Timothy Sumner Robinson and the two generations of people they inspired under that masthead, and ... whatever pivot to video this is. — They should at least change the name. The name shouldn't suffer this. …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette: 2025 journalism job cuts tracked: Washington Post lays off non-newsroom staff
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters: Washington Post to lay off 4% of staff to cut costs
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.
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/ ...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: 🎰 Of note: Will Lewis is at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, alongside other Washington Post executives, meeting with advertising and business partners.
Sara Fischer / Axios: The Washington Post lays off 4% staff
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X has hired John Stoll, a former WSJ editor and Detroit bureau chief, to lead its news group and partnership team at X, focusing on expanding news on X globally — X, formerly Twitter, wants to make its platform a home to the future and news and journalism.
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
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:
Jennifer Maas / Variety: Roku Crosses 90 Million Streaming Households
Julian Clover / Broadband TV News: Roku reaches 90 million streaming households
Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter: Roku Hits 90M Streaming Households As FAST Rivals Tout Reach
Matthew Keys / The Desk: Roku surpasses 90 million streaming TV households
@tvgrimreaper: The free Roku channel is only part of Roku's business. In November, the Roku channel had as much TV viewing in the US as Disney+, and more than Peacock, Paramount+ and Max. [image]
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News: Roku Household Subs Top 90 Million
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
Memo: HuffPost expects “upwards of 30 editorial positions” will be cut in coming weeks, and management is talking with the HuffPost Union on how to proceed — news: HuffPost is cutting 30 positions. Memo from editor-in-chief Danielle C. Belton: [image]
Discussion:
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