WASHINGTON: A global network warned on Thursday that there would be “real-world damage” if Meta extends its decision to end fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram, while denying Mark Zuckerberg’s claim. However, this type of moderation is tantamount to censorship.
Countries like Australia and Brazil have been rattled by Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s surprise announcement this week to drastically loosen content filtering regulations in the US.
The tech tycoon said the fact-checkers were “too politically biased” and the program led to “a lot of censorship.”
But the International Fact-Checking Network, which includes AFP among its dozens of member organizations worldwide, said the censorship claim was “false”.
“We want to set the record straight, both for today’s context and for the historical record,” the network said.
Facebook pays for fact-checking from around 80 organizations globally on the platform as well as WhatsApp and Instagram.
The International Fact-Checking Network warned that if META expands its policy beyond US borders, to programs covering more than 100 countries, it could have catastrophic consequences.
“Some of these countries are extremely vulnerable to disinformation that leads to political instability, electoral interference, mob violence and even genocide,” the network said.
“If Meta decides to stop the program worldwide, it is almost certain to result in real-world damage in many places,” he added.
AFP currently works with Facebook’s fact-checking scheme in 26 languages.
In this program, content classified as “fake” in news feeds is reduced so that fewer people see it, and if someone tries to share the post, they are presented with an article that I explain why this is misleading.
Zuckerberg took Trump to court.
Meta’s policy change comes less than two weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office and is in line with the Republican Party’s position.
Trump has been a vocal critic of Meta and Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him and threatening retaliation against the tech billionaire if he returns to office.
Zuckerberg has been trying to reconcile with Trump since his election in November, meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and donating $1 million to his inaugural fund.
Metta Chief also named Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief Dana White, a close Trump ally, to the company’s board.
Angie Drobnik-Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network, said Tuesday that the decision came after “extreme political pressure.”
The move would “harm social media users who are looking for accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their daily lives and interactions with friends and family.”
Australia said Meta’s decision was a “very damaging development”, while Brazil warned it was “bad for democracy”.
Meta’s move to fact-checking came after Trump’s shock election in 2016, which critics said was enabled by rampant misinformation on Facebook and interference on the platform by foreign actors, including Russia. .