Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of sweeping changes to the company’s content moderation policies and practices, citing a shifting political and social landscape and a desire to embrace free speech. In a video announcing the changes, Zuckerberg said, “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms”.
These changes, affecting Facebook and Instagram (each boasting billions of users), as well as Threads, come after years of criticism, particularly from conservatives, who argue that Meta’s content moderation practices unfairly targeted their viewpoints. Zuckerberg acknowledged that the company’s systems for content moderation were making too many mistakes, leading to excessive censorship.
He pointed to the recent elections as a "cultural tipping point" towards prioritizing free speech and criticized "governments and legacy media" for allegedly pushing “to censor more and more”. Zuckerberg also noted that he felt pressure from the Biden administration to censor certain content, particularly regarding COVID-19.
