By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-08 16:10:05 | Updated at 2025-01-09 07:54:54
15 hours ago
Many MAGA loyalists are not buying the changes at Meta after the social media giant said it will end its fact-checking program.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the reversal in a five-minute video message shared on his Facebook profile on Tuesday, less than two weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Instead of the fact-checkers, Meta will rely on users to correct inaccurate and false posts, similar to the community notes on X.
But critics are slamming it as a desperate effort to curry favor with President-elect Trump.
Conservatives have long accused the social network of censoring conservative content online. And over the summer, Zuckerberg even admitted that the Biden White House pressured his company to 'censor' COVID content.
But following the announcement, some members of the MAGA movement questioned the timing of the change.
Close Trump ally and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who had to pull his name from nomination for Attorney General due to sexual misconduct allegations, questioned Meta's effort in a post online.
'Are we all-in on the Zuck transition or, like many modern transitions, is it phony? I’m not all-in,' he wrote on X.
Some MAGA loyalists blasted the move was 'phony' in response and signaled they are not all in.
Mark Zuckerberg announcing Meta changes as the social media giant ends fact-checking and replaces program with user notes
Other Trump supporters responded that the effort looked like Zuckerberg was trying to stay out of prison while a few said they will wait and see what the change will mean.
The fact-checking program had been implemented by Meta in an effort to reduce the spread of misinformation across its social media apps.
But in his video on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said the recent elections 'feel like a cultural tipping-point toward once again prioritizing speech.'
'So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms,' he said.
While some Trump's supporters called the change 'phony,' the 78-year-old president-elect on Tuesday praised the move, saying Meta has 'come a long way.'
When a reporter asked Trump if he thinks Zuckerberg was directly responding to threats Trump had made against him in the past, the president-elect responded 'probably.'
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz questioned whether the Meta shifts before Trump returns to office are 'phony.' Many MAGA loyalists responded that the shift is 'phony' and they are not 'all in.' Other Trump supporters said they would wait to see what the changes mean
Before the election, Zuckerberg had long been a target of Trump's ire online.
The president-elect has called him 'Zuckerschmuck' and written 'Zuckerbucks' in posts. He even threatened to imprison the Meta CEO for life.
But the Trump has been less hostile as a series of tech billionaires have traveled to meet with him in Florida since the election and donated millions to his inauguration ahead of his return to the White House.
Zuckerberg was among those who travelled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump last year after the election.
And while Meta did not donate to Biden's inauguration or Trump's first inauguration in 2017, it made a $1 million donation for Trump's second inauguration.
Trump and Zuckerberg are seen here meeting inside the Oval Office in September of 2019
Last week, Meta named Joel Kaplan, an executive with deep GOP connections, as its president of global affairs. Zuckerberg and Kaplan pictured above in 2019 when he was VP of Global Policy
In his video on Tuesday, Zuckerberg claimed the legacy media wrote nonstop that misinformation was a threat to democracy after Trump was first elected in 2016.
'We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth,' Zuckerberg said.
'But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created, especially in the U.S.' he continued.
Zuckerberg conceded the change would result in more 'bad stuff' being on Meta's social media platforms but argued it would be a 'trade-off.'
The move comes after Zuckerberg also added close Trump ally Dana White to Meta's board of directors on Monday and named Joel Kaplan, an executive with GOP connections, as its president of global affairs last week.
In an interview on Fox News on Tuesday morning, Kaplan claimed the changes at Meta were the result of societal shifts over the past four years.
He also said the company would be working closely with Trump moving forward to protect the First Amendment and U.S. companies.
Just four years ago, Trump was kicked off of Facebook and other social media accounts after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. That summer, Trump sued claiming he was the victim of censorship.
Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts were reinstated in 2023.
