Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday an end to the company’s third-party fact-checking program that was designed to curb misinformation online. In its place, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, will institute a user-driven model similar to X’s Community Notes, replacing news organizations and outside groups with a model that allows people to add notes and corrections alongside posts that contain misleading information or missing context.
The move highlights intersecting shifts in media, technology and politics as the Biden era comes to an end. Meta is responding to competition from X as popular platforms continue to shun traditional media and as tech industry executives attempt to win favor under a second Trump administration.
In a vertically-shot video that would look right at home on Instagram Reels, Zuckerberg — sporting his drop-shouldered black shirt, flowing curls and gold chain — framed the decision as a corrective antidote to years of over-policing speech.
“So we are going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
Zuckerberg introduced the changes with an explicit critique of the media’s handling of fact-checking and of what he described as Meta’s own over-broad content moderation that has led to censorship. Facebook has for years drawn criticisms of bias and speech suppression from conservative figures.
“Fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created, especially in the US,” he said in the video.
“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship.”
With less than two weeks until Trump’s second inauguration, Meta’s new policies arrive with the backdrop of a shifting political landscape. Several tech CEO’s have recently met with Trump, donated to his inaugural fund, or otherwise tried to mend relations as he retakes the White House and Republicans claim a majority in Congress.
For Zuckerberg, the policy moderation move is the latest in a string of decisions that can be seen as corporate repositioning ahead of a regime change in Washington.
Last week, Meta promoted Joel Kaplan, former deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush and one of the most prominent Republicans at the company, to head of its global policy team. Kaplan took over the role from Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats. And on Monday, Meta named Trump ally Dana White, the president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to its board of directors.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said, underscoring what he sees as a national shift.
The Oversight Board, an independent organization backed by Meta to review the company’s content moderation decisions applauded the the policy changes, saying in a statement Tuesday that it “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.”
In addition to adopting a community notes type system, Zuckerberg said Meta will simplify its content moderation policies and lift restrictions around controversial topics including immigration and gender identity that Zuckerberg said are “out of touch with mainstream discourse.” Meta will also dial back the use of filters to reduce the amount of erroneous censorship, focusing instead on illegal and “high severity” content. He acknowledged that the new approach will come with a trade off.
“It means that we’re going to catch less bad stuff, but we’ll also reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta will phase in the new moderation system over the coming months.
The boosted reliance on users over authoritative media sources follows the model of Tesla (TSLA) CEO and X owner Elon Musk, who envisions his platform as a replacement to legacy media. Musk’s influence has only seemed to grow in recent months, after helping secure Trump’s victory and becoming a close advisor to the incoming president.
“The bottom line is that after years of having our content moderation work focus primarily on removing content, it is time to focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our systems, and getting back to our roots about giving people voice,” Zuckerberg said.
In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Trump said he watched Zuckerberg’s announcement, calling it “impressive.” When Trump was asked if he thought Zuckerberg’s actions were in response to him threatening Zuckerberg in the past, he responded, “Probably. Yeah, probably.”
Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on X @hshaban.
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