Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to quit Facebook’s job third party fact checkers and relaxing some of its content restrictions is a potentially “transformative” moment for the platform, experts say, but it is unlikely to shield the company from liability in ongoing legal proceedings.
The updates were announced by Zuckerberg, who said in a video that previous content restrictions on Facebook and Instagram — imposed after the 2016 election — had “gone too far” and allowed too much outside political bias. checkers.
Meta will now replace that system with a “Community Notes”-style program, similar to social media platform X’s approach, he said. X is owned by Elon Muskthe co-director of the planned Department of Government Efficiency.
“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said. “The recent elections also feel like a cultural turning point to re-prioritize expression. So we’re going back to our roots, focusing on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free speech on our platforms.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The news was praised by newly elected President Donald Trump, who told Fox News Digital he thought so Meta’s presentation “was excellent.” “They’ve come a long way,” Trump said.
Still, it is unlikely to alleviate legal liability for Meta, which has been hit in recent months by the possibility of a multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit stemming from a privacy scandal involving political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The Supreme Court in November rejected Meta’s attempt to block the lawsuit and upheld an appeals court ruling that allowed the class action lawsuit to move forward.
Meta has also been the target of multiple Republican-led investigations in Congress. Republicans on the House Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government last year investigated Meta’s activities and communications with the federal government and the Biden administration as part of a broader investigation into alleged censorship.
The platform also came under scrutiny by the House Oversight Committee in August part of an investigation in claims that the platform suppressed information about the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump.
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to families harmed by unsafe social media during Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Combined, these factors make it unlikely that Meta will see her legal troubles disappear anytime soon, says law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley told it Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Facebook is now looking at a difficult period,” he said. “Not only do Republicans control both Congress and the White House, but lawsuits in the Texas social media case are still pending.”
Moreover, so is the Supreme Court’s conservative majority probably not sympathetic to Meta’s positions, which are in any case aimed at protecting the First Amendment and the right to freedom of expression.
The House investigations and lawsuits have both brought more of Meta’s actions to the public’s attention — something Turley believes will come under further scrutiny in the discovery process in Missouri v. Biden, a case centering on allegations of political censorship.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, arrives to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” in Washington, DC, on January 31, 2024. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“That discovery continues to reveal new details,” Turley said. “Meta therefore understood that more details about its censorship program would emerge in the coming months.”
Yet he said: this “could be a transformative moment,” Turley said.
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‘And an alliance between Zuckerberg and (Elon) Musk could turn the tide in this struggle for freedom of expressionTurley said. “And as one of Zuckerberg’s most outspoken critics, I welcome him to this fight.”
