Mark Zuckerberg announced this week the end of Meta’s program with third-party fact-checkers, accusing them of “censorship” and “political bias.” Instead, Meta’s social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) are shifting to community notes, a system similar to Elon Musk’s X (Twitter). Ali Velshi brings Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact and Chris Richmond, CEO of Snopes, to the show to discuss the difference between censorship and fact-checking and determine what Meta is really doing.
Zuckerberg, on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, spoke of censorship, 1984, and the “slippery slope.” In reality, fact-checking is not about censorship but about adding more information and speech, using context to correct misleading content and inform the public. Fact-checkers call Zuckerberg’s move a transparent attempt to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration at the expense of truth. While the community notes approach may offer some transparency, it can’t keep up with the volume of misinformation, something professional fact-checking organizations are built for.
Sharockman of PolitiFact points out, “In a highly polarized society, in a highly polarized world, people don’t agree on a lot, and their interest is to defend themselves and their beliefs. Journalists act in a different interest, in the interest of the truth.”
Snopes’s Richmond questions the timing of Zuckerberg’s decision, saying, “If Kamala Harris had won, would Zuckerberg be making these same moves now?”
LISTEN: VELSHI INTERVIEWS POLITIFACT AND SNOPES LEADERSHIP ON META AND FACT-CHECKING
WATCH: VELSHI, RICHMOND, AND SHAROCKMAN DISCUSS META
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