US President Joe Biden blasted Meta Friday for scrapping fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in the United States, calling the move "really shameful" after a global network warned of real-world harm if the tech giant expands its decision to other countries.
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg triggered alarm Tuesday when he announced the Palo Alto company was ditching third-party fact-checking in the US and turning over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as "Community Notes," popularised by X.
The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease president-elect Donald Trump, whose conservative support base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.
The International Fact-Checking Network has warned of devastating consequences if Meta broadens its policy shift beyond US borders to the company's programs covering more than 100 countries.
The UN rights chief insisted that regulating hate speech and harmful content online "is not censorship". "Allowing hate speech and harmful content online has real world consequences. Regulating such content is not censorship," Volker Turk said on X.
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg triggered alarm Tuesday when he announced the Palo Alto company was ditching third-party fact-checking in the US and turning over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as "Community Notes," popularised by X.
The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease president-elect Donald Trump, whose conservative support base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.
The International Fact-Checking Network has warned of devastating consequences if Meta broadens its policy shift beyond US borders to the company's programs covering more than 100 countries.
The UN rights chief insisted that regulating hate speech and harmful content online "is not censorship". "Allowing hate speech and harmful content online has real world consequences. Regulating such content is not censorship," Volker Turk said on X.