Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his decision to scale back Meta’s content moderation policies in a Friday appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Zuckerberg faced widespread criticism for the decision, including from employees inside his own company.
“Probably depends on who you ask,” said Zuckerberg when asked how Meta’s updates have been received.
The key updates Meta announced this week were that it was ending its independent fact-checker program and replacing it with a community notes program like X has. This means Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will rely more on community members to flag misinformation. The company also said it would increase the thresholds for its automated content filters. This means fewer bad posts on Meta’s platforms will be automatically taken down, but also that fewer good posts will mistakenly be taken down. And Meta didn’t announce this, but it’s reportedly eliminating its biggest DEI effort.
In a wide-ranging, candid conversation lasting nearly three hours, Zuckerberg explained why he’s pivoting his social media platforms, as he puts it, back to their roots of free expression.
“You only start one of these companies if you believe in giving people a voice,” said Meta’s CEO. “The whole point of social media is basically giving people the ability to share what they want. It goes back to our original mission to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
It’s impossible to ignore the timing of these decisions. Zuckerberg announced these changes just days before the inauguration of Donald Trump. The President-elect previously claimed Meta’s CEO plotted against him in the 2020 election, and reportedly threatened Zuckerberg with prison if he ever did it again.
When it came to Trump, Zuckerberg said he’s quite optimistic about the incoming president because he “just wants America to win.” The CEO noted how important it is to have a government that defends American tech companies abroad, seemingly referencing the scrutiny Meta has faced in the European Union.
However, Zuckerberg claimed the timing of these changes was purely coincidental, and that t …