Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg dismissed criticism that his new policy that eliminates fact-checking and third-party censorship will alienate users – insisting that anyone leaving the company’s Facebook, Instagram and Threads platforms would be “virtual signaling”.
Zuckerberg responded to a Threads post that criticized him for Tuesday’s decision, which many called a “coward” and a “liar” who was “kissing the ring” of President-elect Donald Trump.
Meta’s boss was defiant in downplaying the possibility of a mass exodus of users.
“Some people may turn away from our virtue signaling platforms, but I think the vast majority and many new users will find that these changes make the products better,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Mary-Frances Makichen, a Threads user who has 253 followers, complained that Meta and Zuckerberg are “relying on the fact that it’s very difficult for people to leave Threads and IG.”
“Meta has us in a chokehold. They make money off of our presence so they can stay in business and yet it’s very hard for people to leave,” Makichen wrote.
“This is not a big cycle. Meta is a system based on a negative feedback loop that just keeps getting reinforced.”
Zuckerberg responded to the post, writing: “No – I’m counting on these changes to actually make our platforms better.”
Meta’s boss defended his decision to switch to a “Community Notes”-style fact-checking format similar to that used at X, the social media platform run by owner Elon Musk.
Zuckerberg predicted that Community Notes “will be more effective than fact-checkers, reducing the number of people whose accounts are mistakenly banned. It’s good, people want to be able to discuss civic topics and make arguments that are in the flow. main political discourse, etc.
Zuckerberg’s critics were not convinced.
“You bowed [President-elect Donald] Trump, because you’re afraid of what might happen if you dare to stand up to him,” one Threads user wrote.
Zuckerberg has been trying to curry favor with Trump in recent weeks. His company donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and he recently went to Mar-a-Lago to meet the president-elect for dinner — during which he presented him with a pair of Ray Ban smart glasses.
In his announcement on Tuesday, Zuckerberg had some sharp criticism of the “legacy media” which “repeatedly wrote about how misinformation was a threat to democracy.”
“We tried in good faith to address these concerns without becoming the arbiters of the truth,” Zuckerberg said.
He acknowledged that Facebook-backed third-party fact-checkers “have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created.”
Facebook will also remove “restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse,” Zuckerberg said.
“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut down people with different ideas,” he said, adding: “It’s gone too far.”
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta will “move our content moderation teams out of California” and relocate them to Texas.
“As we work to promote free expression, I think this will help build confidence to do this work in places where there is less concern about our team’s biases,” said the Meta boss.
According to a report, Meta employees criticized the decision as well as the move to add Ultimate Fighting Championship head Dana White to the board of directors.
Zuckerberg reportedly decided to remove censorship mechanisms on Meta after a seemingly innocuous photo he posted on Facebook in November 2023 of surgery on his left anterior cruciate ligament failed to go viral, Wall Street reported. Journal.
When Zuckerberg followed up on why the post wasn’t shared as widely as he’d hoped, he learned that software engineers tweaked the algorithm to limit the spread of health-related content — especially in light of claims made about the coronavirus vaccine. according to the Gazette.
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