Meta is taking a less aggressive approach to content moderation by allowing users to “opt out” of its fact-checking program in a move that is already facing pushback.
The leftist-biased fact-checking program claims to “fight the spread of misinformation and provide people with more reliable information.” And until recently, the platform automatically limited certain fact-checked content in user feeds. But now, users can “opt out” of that measure and choose the content they want to see. Instead of hiding content fact-checked as false by a biased fact-checker, users can change this default setting to “don't reduce” content flagged by a fact-checker.
In an August 25 report, The Washington Post whined about Meta’s silent implementation of its new user controls. “Meta has quietly begun offering users new controls to opt out of the fact-checking program, allowing debunked posts … to spread in participants’ news feeds with a warning label.”
Meta Global Affairs President Nick Clegg claimed the change promotes user control by allowing users what they want to see. “We feel we’ve moved quite dramatically in favor of giving users greater control over even quite controversial sensitive content,” Clegg claimed, according to The Post.
“WashPost’s whining that Meta (Facebook/Instagram) isn’t doing enough to censor is rich, and Clegg’s comments aren’t anything to write home about,” said MRC Free Speech America Director Michael Morris. “Like so many leftist compulsory unions across America, Meta’s new ‘opt out’ feature does not go far enough. If Big Tech companies were truly interested in promoting free speech, they would stop censoring speech that they disagree with and instead of providing an ‘opt-out,’ allow users the freedom to choose to opt in if they wish to not see certain content on their social media feeds.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once claimed to support free speech.
“What I believe is that, in a democracy, it’s really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they can make their own judgments.”
Unfortunately, Zuckerberg gave in to leftist calls for censorship.
Before the 2020 election, Zuckerberg claimed that “we need to be doing everything we can to reduce the chances of violence or civil unrest in the — in the wake of this election,” adding that Facebook’s actions included removing “militia groups, groups like Q-Anon that are spreading conspiracy theories.”
Although the opt-out option is better than nothing, it falls short.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
