When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that the social media giant would scrap third-party fact-checking and ease moderation of sensitive topics, he cast the decision as reflecting the zeitgeist.The re-election of United States President-elect Donald Trump signalled a “cultural tipping point” towards free speech over moderation, Zuckerberg said.
In many ways, he was right.
Less than a decade after the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit spurred US tech platforms to crack down on misinformation online, momentum has shifted dramatically in favour of voices arguing for a less regulated, more freewheeling internet.
“This move by Meta is definitely part of a larger trend, with fact-checking undergoing some headwinds globally,” John P Wihbey, associate professor of media innovation and technology at Northeastern University in Canada, told Al Jazeera.
“My sense is that the changes are equally driven by political shifts and business necessity, as news organisations also need to move scarce resources to serve audiences in other ways.”
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, looks on during the US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” in Washington, DC, the United States, on January 31, 2024 [Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/ AFP]
If not over, the era of formal fact-checking initiatives at least appears to be in retreat. Advertisement
After a three-fold rise in less than a decade, the number of active fact-checking projects worldwide peaked in 2022 at 457, according to data collected by …
