Those who followed the Twitter files revelations will be aware that big social media censored its users during the COVID pandemic and in many other situations. The censorship was little publicized at the time.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps influenced by Elon Musk at X, now says he wants out of the censorship business:

With less than two weeks before Donald Trump takes office, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of changes to its content moderation practices on Facebook and Instagram, including ending fact-checking and other restrictions.

“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted this morning. “So we’re going back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and reducing free expression on our platforms.”

Ted Johnson, “In Another Bow To Donald Trump, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will End Fact Checking On Facebook And Instagram,” Yahoo/Deadline, January 7, 2025

Here’s Zuck’s video, posted to Facebook and X:

He favors moving toward a Community Notes approach to moderation:

Zuckerberg said that the “fact checking” (moderation) would be replaced by a “more comprehensive community note system,” similar to one that has been deployed by Elon Musk since he purchased Twitter, later renamed X.

Zuckerberg also suggested that Meta would work with the Trump administration “to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more.” “End Fact Checking”

Is all this just due to pressure on Zuck?

Many accuse Zuck of merely sucking up or kissing up to Trump, who will be inaugurated January 20.

But do we know for sure that Zuck, who was essentially a communications entrepreneur, ever wanted his role as, essentially, a government employee? Tasked with censoring the medium he had built on behalf of the U.S. administration? In return, maybe, for avoiding endless politically motivated administrative grief from them?

Maybe later biographies will offer more insight. But here’s what History Tools tells us about him:

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg demonstrated a gifted intellect and intense focus from childhood. Born on May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York, Zuckerberg displayed an uncanny ability to hyperfocus and taught himself computer programming at the age of 10. His father, a dentist named Edward Zuckerberg, recalled his son‘s determination to absorb everything he could about a topic in short periods of intense concentration.

Zuckerberg first tapped into his budding technical skills to help connect his family when he built ZuckNet—a private instant messaging system for his father‘s home office and waiting room. Though simple, the feat offered a preview of Zuckerberg’s creative approach to coding and passion for building communication tools.

“The Journey of Mark Zuckerberg: From Harvard Dropout to Tech Visionary,” March 26, 2024

Zuck doesn’t sound, offhand, like the type of person for whom restricting information feels like a form of creativity. Incidentally, according to Forbes, he is currently the world’s third richest man.

In the wake of the Twitter files revelations, getting on board with less censorship likely makes sense for him as a business direction. People don’t sign onto Facebook in order to give State Nanny charge of their lives.

Due to its public nature, X’s Community Notes is probably a more information-friendly moderation insturment than Facebook’s notorious moderators, if only because the Community Notes decision-makers must document their claims in public. No system works perfectly but more transparency enables broader public input in principle.

We can expect Zuck to take a lot of heat for his decision from the sunset industry of legacy media. Deprived of their role as gatekeepers of information, they will gladly assume a new role as censors if they are let to do so. But, in their case, a bigger problem is that they are much less needed than they used to be, in any capacity.

Note: Many users of Threads, Facebook’s version of X, are apparently outraged by Zuck’s move:

Competitor Bluesky may be more to these commenters’ liking: It quadrupled its traditional moderation team recently.

You may also wish to read: Is the social panic over “disinformation” starting to wane? There is currently a “crisis in the field of misinformation studies” as disinformation experts are questioning the usefulness of their field.