STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is positioning itself for a new administration.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who once banned President-elect Donald Trump from Facebook for his role in the January 6 attack, now says he favors more free speech. And he's ending a fact-checking feature that was designed to slow down the spread of false information. Meta's move comes as Republicans on their way into power talk of a crackdown on tech companies.
INSKEEP: NPR's Bobby Allyn is covering this. Bobby, good morning.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey there, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so what was Meta doing, and what are they going to be doing now?
ALLYN: Well, it used to be that posts that were flagged by enough users underwent a fact-checking process by third-party professional fact-checkers, and when they were done, the post got a label. Now that is over. In its place is what's known as a community note system. This was inspired by how it works on Elon Musk's X. The fact-checking process is crowdsourced to regular users. And when the users reach some kind of consensus, a note is added to the post. That's big change one. Second big change, Steve - restrictions will be lifted on topics like immigration and gender identity. Currently, these protections are in place to curb hate speech. Now they are dismantled. In an Instagram video announcement, Zuckerberg says Meta's speech policing has become too aggressive.
(SOUNDBITE OF INSTAGRAM VIDEO)
MARK ZUCKERBERG: And we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.
ALLYN: And, Steve, to say this is a big reversal is an understatement. After the 2016 presidential election, Zuckerberg himself came up with this fact-checking system. It followed revelations, of course, that Russia exploited Facebook to divide the country and boost the Trump campaign. Now Zuckerberg is abandoning the very fact-checking system that he helped create.
INSKEEP: Bobby, when he says he's responding to the recent elections, that's very close to saying that he's adjusting policies for Trump.
ALLYN: He didn't say so explicitly, but, yeah, Zuckerberg's framing is quite notable. In his video, he said speech is being censored on Meta's platforms. It's an allegation Republicans have made for years and until now an allegation he has fought against. Now, he is leaving some limits in place, ones on speech that encourage crimes like terrorism, child sexual exploitation and scams. But more lax rules also follow several other developments, Steve, OK - Meta donating a million dollars to Trump's inaugural fund, Meta tapping Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan to be Meta's global affairs officer and putting Trump supporter Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, on Meta's board of directors. So taken all together, I called up Meta observer Brendan Nyhan. He's a political scientist at Dartmouth College, and here is how he sees it.
BRENDAN NYHAN: Meta clearly perceives a great deal of political risk of being targeted. And the way Zuckerberg presented the announcements and its timing was obviously intended to play to a Republican audience.
INSKEEP: If we assume that Zuckerberg is acting out of business reasons here, what is the business case for currying favor with the president-elect?
ALLYN: A couple reasons. Trump has been attacking Zuckerberg for years. Trump believes Zuckerberg's measures in 2020 to combat disinformation and bolster reliable election information was a type of election interference. Trump even threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison if Meta did the same in 2024. On top of that, federal agencies have been investigating Meta over whether it has used its dominance to hurt competitors. And one big case Meta is facing was brought by the Federal Trade Commission back in 2020, so during Trump's first term, and that case is set to go to trial in April.
INSKEEP: NPR's Bobby Allyn, thanks for your reporting.
ALLYN: Thanks, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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