Key Changes and Their Implications:

1. Replacing Fact-Checkers with Community Notes:
   • Claim: Fact-checkers are politically biased and destroy trust. Community notes, similar to X (formerly Twitter), are presented as a more neutral alternative.
   • Implication: This is highly problematic. Fact-checkers, while not perfect, are generally professional journalists or academics trained in verification techniques and bound by codes of conduct. Community notes, on the other hand, rely on crowdsourced ratings, which can be easily manipulated by coordinated groups, bots, and those with partisan agendas. This system is vulnerable to brigading and the promotion of popular, but not necessarily accurate, information.
   • Propaganda Risk: This change could significantly increase the spread of misinformation and propaganda on Facebook, as it removes a crucial layer of verification and replaces it with a system easily gamed by malicious actors.
   • Example: Imagine a coordinated campaign by a foreign government to spread false information about a candidate during an election. With community notes, they could easily manipulate the ratings to make their disinformation appear credible.
2. Simplifying Content Policies and Removing Restrictions:
   • Claim: Current policies on topics like immigration and gender are “out of touch” and used to “shut down opinions.”
   • Implication: This is a thinly veiled dog whistle to the right. “Simplifying” content policies in these areas likely means relaxing restrictions on hate speech, discriminatory content, and misinformation related to these topics.
   • Propaganda Risk: This could lead to a surge in harmful content targeting minority groups, further polarising society and potentially inciting violence. It could also make it easier to spread propaganda that demonises immigrants or promotes harmful gender stereotypes.
   • Example: Removing restrictions on “immigration” discussions could open the door to a flood of anti-immigrant propaganda, including false claims about immigrants and crime or about the economic impact of immigration.
3. Changing Enforcement to Reduce “Mistakes”:
   • Claim: Current filters make too many mistakes, leading to “censorship.” The focus will shift to “illegal and high severity violations,” relying more on user reports for “lower severity violations.”
   • Implication: This is a major rollback of content moderation. By reducing automated filtering and relying more on user reports, Facebook is essentially abdicating its responsibility to maintain a safe and healthy platform. User reports are often slow, inconsistent, and biased.
   • Propaganda Risk: This will make it much easier for propaganda and misinformation to spread, as it will take longer for harmful content to be identified and removed, if it is removed at all. It also places the burden on users to police the platform, which is unrealistic and unfair.
   • Example: False or misleading information about an election, which might not be considered “high severity” under this new policy, could spread rapidly before it’s reported and potentially removed, potentially influencing voter behaviour.
4. Bringing Back “Civic Content”:
   • Claim: People want to see political content again, despite it previously being deemed “stressful.”
   • Implication: This is a reversal of a previous policy aimed at reducing political polarisation. Reintroducing more political content, especially in the context of the other changes, could exacerbate division and make the platform even more toxic.
   • Propaganda Risk: This provides a wider opening for political propaganda, especially when combined with reduced fact-checking and content moderation.
   • Example: Partisan groups could flood the platform with targeted political advertising and propaganda, knowing that it will be less likely to be flagged or removed.
5. Moving Trust and Safety Teams out of California:
   • Claim: This will reduce concerns about bias, as Texas is seen as less “liberal” than California.
   • Implication: This is a bizarre and largely symbolic move that does little to address the core issues of content moderation. It seems designed to appeal to right-wing critics who claim that Silicon Valley companies are biased against conservatives.
   • Propaganda Risk: This move is unlikely to have a direct impact on the spread of propaganda, but it signals a willingness to cater to partisan demands, which could further embolden those who seek to exploit the platform for manipulative purposes.
6. Working with President Trump to Push Back Against Global Censorship:
   • Claim: Other countries are censoring American companies, and the US government needs to push back.
   • Implication: This is a highly concerning statement, particularly given Trump’s history of attacking the media and promoting misinformation. It suggests a willingness to use Facebook as a tool of US foreign policy, potentially promoting US interests and narratives abroad, regardless of their accuracy.
   • Propaganda Risk: This could turn Facebook into a platform for state-sponsored propaganda on a global scale, undermining its credibility and potentially destabilising other countries. It’s also a blatant appeal to a specific political figure known for spreading disinformation.
   • Example: This could mean that Facebook would be less likely to remove content that promotes US foreign policy objectives, even if that content is misleading or inaccurate, while simultaneously suppressing voices critical of the US.

Overall Assessment:

This announcement, if implemented as described, would be a disaster for democracy. It would significantly weaken Facebook’s ability to combat misinformation, hate speech, and propaganda, while simultaneously making the platform more vulnerable to manipulation by both domestic and foreign actors. It represents a capitulation to right-wing pressure and a betrayal of Facebook’s responsibility to maintain a safe and informative platform.

Impact on Elections and Referendums:

The implications for future elections and referendums are particularly dire. With reduced content moderation, increased emphasis on “free expression” without adequate safeguards, and a system vulnerable to manipulation, Facebook could become an even more potent weapon for those seeking to undermine democratic processes. We could see:

• A surge in targeted disinformation campaigns designed to influence voter behaviour.
• Increased voter suppression efforts through the spread of false information about polling places or election procedures.
• Greater foreign interference in elections, with state-sponsored actors using Facebook to spread propaganda and sow discord.
• A further erosion of public trust in democratic institutions and the media.

Conclusion:

Zuckerberg’s announcement is a dangerous development that should be met with widespread condemnation. It’s a recipe for a more toxic, polarised, and misinformation-ridden online environment, with potentially devastating consequences for democracy worldwide. It highlights the urgent need for stronger regulation of social media platforms, greater transparency and accountability, and a renewed commitment to media literacy and critical thinking. The future of informed democratic participation may well depend on it.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey everyone,
I want to talk about something important today because it’s time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram. I started building social media to give people a voice. I gave a speech at Georgetown five years ago about the importance of protecting free expression, and I still believe this today. But a lot has happened over the last several years.

There’s been widespread debate about potential harms from online content. Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more. A lot of this is clearly political, but there’s also a lot of legitimately harmful material out there—drugs, terrorism, child exploitation. These are issues we take very seriously, and I want to ensure we handle them responsibly.

We’ve built a lot of complex systems to moderate content. However, the problem with complex systems is that they make mistakes. Even if they accidentally censor just 1% of posts, that’s millions of people. We’ve reached a point where it’s simply too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point, pushing us once again to prioritise speech.

What We’re Doing

To address these challenges, we’re making some big changes.

1. Replacing Fact-Checkers with Community Notes
We’re going to phase out fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes, similar to what X has implemented, starting in the US. After Trump was first elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote non-stop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address these concerns without becoming arbiters of truth. However, the fact-checkers have proven to be too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, particularly in the US.

Over the next few months, we’ll roll out a more comprehensive Community Notes system to address this.

2. Simplifying Content Policies
We’re going to simplify our content policies and remove numerous restrictions on topics like immigration and gender—issues that have become out of touch with mainstream discourse. What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and exclude people with different ideas. It’s gone too far. I want to ensure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.

3. Changing How We Enforce Policies
We’re changing the way we enforce policies to reduce the mistakes that lead to most of the censorship on our platforms. Previously, we used filters that scanned for any policy violation. Moving forward, these filters will focus on illegal and high-severity violations. For lower-severity issues, we’ll rely on user reports before taking action.

By dialling back the filters, we’ll significantly reduce unnecessary censorship. We’re also tuning our filters to require much higher confidence before content is removed. This trade-off means we’ll catch less bad content, but we’ll also reduce the number of innocent posts and accounts that are mistakenly taken down.

4. Bringing Back Civic Content
A while ago, the community asked to see less political content because it was causing stress. As a result, we stopped recommending these posts. However, it feels like we’re entering a new era, and we’re starting to receive feedback that people want to see this content again.

We’ll begin reintroducing civic content on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, while working to keep the community friendly and positive.

5. Moving Moderation Teams out of California
Our trust and safety, as well as content moderation teams, will relocate from California. US-based content review will now be based in Texas. I believe this move will help us build trust by working in locations with less perceived bias.

6. Pushing Back on Government Censorship
Finally, we’re going to collaborate with President Trump to push back against governments worldwide that are targeting American companies and pushing for more censorship.

The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world. In contrast, Europe has introduced an increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship, Latin American countries have secret courts ordering takedowns, and China has outright blocked our apps.

The only way to counter this global trend is with the support of the US government. Unfortunately, over the past four years, even the US government has pushed for censorship, targeting us and other American companies. This has emboldened other governments to go even further. Now, however, we have an opportunity to restore free expression, and I’m excited to take it.

Moving Forward

It will take time to get this right. These are complex systems that will never be perfect. There’s still a lot of illegal content that we need to address. However, the bottom line is that after years of focusing on content removal, it’s time to reduce mistakes, simplify our systems, and return to our roots: giving people a voice.

I’m looking forward to this next chapter. Stay good out there—more updates to come soon!