Quotes
To hear that Meta is removing all its factcheckers [in the US] is concerning … people have a right to be protected from the harmful effects of misinformation,
she said
Meta needs to set out how the risks of harm to children in the UK is not being increased by the removal of factcheckers in America and its changes in content policies.”
Rani Govender, its regulatory policy manager for child safety online, said
The EU will remain uncomfortable for social media giants by standing up for the integrity and independence of free expression and democratic processes. Europe will never accept manipulation and disinformation as a standard for society. By abandoning factchecking in the US, Meta is making a profound strategic and ethical mistake.”
Valérie Hayer, an MEP and the leader of the centrist Renew Europe grouping in the European parliament, saidThey will be increasingly exposed to all the content categories that they need to be protected against.”
Arturo Béjar, a former senior engineer whose responsibilities at Meta included child safety measures, saidI am extremely concerned about what this means for teenagers.”
A Meta whistleblower told the GuardianWe must stand firm against such proposals, which would remove any chance we have to hold tech executives to account and require them to enforce the safety standards on their platforms that are set in our laws.”
He said
Although research supports the idea that crowdsourcing fact-checking can be effective when done correctly, it is important to understand that this is intended to supplement fact-checking from professionals -- not to replace it,
said Gordon Pennycook, from Cornell University
.jpg)
Meta is giving the green light for people to target LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, and other marginalized groups with violence, vitriol, and dehumanizing narratives,
Ellis addedIf he's all-in on the Musk playbook, the next step will be slashing yet more of his content moderator numbers,
including those that take down violent content and hate speechAbandoning formal fact-checking for crowdsourcing tools like Community Notes has failed platforms in the past,
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the nonprofit watchdog Free Press, told AFPBy axing his factcheckers, Zuckerberg has ripped out yet another of his companies' safety measures on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram,
said Rosa Curling, co-executive director of UK-based legal activist firm Foxglove, which has backed a lawsuit against Meta in KenyaIn an information ecosystem where misinformation is having a large influence, crowdsourced fact-checking will simply reflect the mistaken beliefs of the majority,
he addedTwitter tried it and can't withstand the volume of misinformation and other violent, violative content,
she addedMeta/Facebook is now reversing its assault on free speech. They are no longer under the control of the radical left. This is another win for common sense."
User @deantwanfitts wrote
Oh, so we're just done with fact-checking? That's pretty rich coming from Mark Zuckerberg, the man who likes dropping puppies off of bridges and who has been banned from all Taco Bell franchises."
One user, @erich.withanh wrote on ThreadsI've seen how this can strain relationships, with patients feeling distant from friends or family because of disagreements fueled by what they see online. Without tools like fact-checking to help filter out false information, these divides can grow even wider,
Dr. Ignatov told NewsweekWhen people are exposed to conflicting information and exaggerated stories, it's easy to feel confused and unsure about what's true,
Dr. Ignatov saidOur journalists will continue to provide nonpartisan coverage of false and misleading political claims, helping you to sort fact from fiction, just as we have done for more than 20 years."
The post readsWithout proper checks, people may be misled into believing harmful ideas or taking actions that hurt their physical or mental health. I've seen how misinformation can lead people to avoid medical treatments because they trusted false claims they saw online,
he continued_(cropped).jpg)
We built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, but the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes,
Zuckerberg said