TODAY, An hour agoLauren FeinerMark Zuckerberg is in Threads replies defending his content moderation changes.The Meta CEO is pushing back on critics who say the company is only making its content policy changes because its too hard for people to leave. Zuckerberg shot back that hes counting on these changes actually making our platform better, and while some may leave for virtue signaling, most users will enjoy the changes.TODAY, An hour agoLauren FeinerMetas third-party fact checking contracts will reportedly end in March.The ten fact-checking organizations will continue to receive payments until August, and those who havent signed 2025 contracts could get severance, Business Insider reports. Meta told members of the International Fact-Checking Network that their partnerships were ending just 45 minutes before it publicly announced sweeping changes to its content moderation and fact checking policies.Meta fact-checkers called an emergency meeting. We got inside. Here's what happened.[Business Insider]Here are some of the horrible things that you can now say on Instagram and Facebook Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesMeta overhauled its approach to US moderation on Tuesday, ditching fact-checking, announcing a plan to move its trust and safety teams, and perhaps most impactfully, updating its Hateful Conduct policy. As reported by Wired, a lot of text has been updated, added, or removed, but here are some of the changes that jumped out at us.These two sections outlining speech (written or visual) are new additions:Read Article >Meta is leaving its users to wade through hate and disinformation Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImageExperts warn that Metas decision toend its third-party fact-checking programcould allow disinformation and hate to fester online and permeate the real world.The company announced today that its phasing out a program launched in 2016 where it partners with independent fact-checkers around the world to identify and review misinformation across its social media platforms. Meta is replacing the program with a crowdsourced approach to content moderation similar to Xs Community Notes.Read Article >Mark, Meta welcome to the party.X CEO Linda Yaccarino commended Mark Zuckerbergs move to ditch third-party fact-checking in favor of a Community Notes-style moderation (inspired by X) onstage at CES. It couldnt be more validating, Yaccarino said. Mark and Meta realized that its the most effective, fastest fact checking, without bias.Mark, Meta welcome to the party, she added.Trump says his threats probably made Meta change its policies.Poor Mark Zuckerberg. Imagine calling the 2024 election a cultural tipping point for prioritizing speech and then the guy who got elected starts bragging about how he threatened you into self-censorship. At least Trump wont throw him in jail?Jan 7Jay PetersZuckerberg says hes moving Meta moderators to Texas because California seems too biased Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImagesAs part of Metas sweeping changes to content moderation announced today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the company will also be moving its content moderation teams from California to Texas to help remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content, he wrote on Threads.Were going to move our trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US-based content review is going to be based in Texas, Zuckerberg says in a video about the changes. As we work to promote free expression, I think that it will help us build trust to do this work in places where theres less concern about the bias of our teams.Read Article >Oversight Board to Meta: hey, remember us?The Meta Oversight Board a semi-independent body that interprets Metas rules and suggests changes has responded to the recent dissolution of the companys third-party fact-checking system. Its statement contains a series of gently worded reminders to Meta that it exists and would very much like to continue existing in the future, pretty please.Oversight Board to Engage with Meta on its Fact-Checking Replacement | Oversight Board[The Oversight Board]Metas fact-checking changes are just what Trumps FCC head asked for Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeI have to commend Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his new policy chief Joel Kaplan on their timing. Its not hugely surprising that, as the pair announced early today, Meta is giving up on professional third-party fact-checking. The operator of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads has been backing off moderation recently, and fact-checking has always been contentious. But its probably smart to do it two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office and nominates a Federal Communications Commission head whos threatened the company over it.Trumps FCC chairman pick (and current FCC commissioner), Brendan Carr, is a self-identified free speech defender with a creative interpretation of the First Amendment. In mid-November, as part of a flurry of lightly menacing missives to various entities, Carr sent a letter to Meta, Apple, Google, and Microsoft attacking the companies fact-checking programs.Read Article >Jan 7Jess WeatherbedMeta abandons fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in favor of Community Notes Laura Normand / The VergeFacebook, Instagram, and Threads are ditching third-party fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes program inspired by X, according to an announcement penned by Metas new Trump-friendly policy chief Joel Kaplan. Meta is also moving its trust and safety teams from California to Texas.Weve seen this approach work on X where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context, and people across a diverse range of perspectives decide what sort of context is helpful for other users to see. Meta said. We think this could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what theyre seeing and one thats less prone to bias.Read Article >