Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that the tech giant will end its fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram and will instead offer a "Community Notes" features similar to the system used by X. Meta stock was slightly lower Tuesday.
"We're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms," Zuckerberg said in a video address published on Meta's website.
Zuckerberg added that the company's efforts to moderate content to create a more inclusive environment led to "too many mistakes and too much censorship." The company launched its independent fact-checking program in 2016.
The changes comes as the Facebook founder has been working to repair his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump. Trump was suspended from posting on Facebook and Instagram for two years following the 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Trump last year called Facebook an "enemy of the people."
Zuckerberg visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club shortly after the election. Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. On Monday, the company announced that UFC Chief Executive and Trump ally Dana White will join Meta's board of directors.
Zuckerberg said the election of Trump felt like a "tipping point towards once against prioritizing speech." Meta is also lifting restrictions on certain hot-button topics, Zuckerberg said, and will begin phasing political posts back into Facebook, Instagram and Threads feeds after de-emphasizing such content in recent years.
Meta Policy Change: Any Advertising Impact?
With the changes, Zuckerberg appears to be following the lead of Elon Musk, who adopted a community notes system shortly after he bought Twitter in 2022 (eventually changing its name to X). Musk pledged to roll back Twitter moderation policies he said were censoring certain content, particularly conservative political voices.
Some advertisers reportedly pulled their spending from X last year out of concerns their ads could be placed next to content damaging for their brands. Musk in August sued an advertiser industry group, alleging an illegal boycott.
Meta has the world's second largest digital advertising business, behind only Google parent company Alphabet.
Stifel analyst Mark Kelley said in a client note Tuesday that he does not "expect advertising budgets to change as a result of these changes" from Meta.
Further, he said the changes could "de-risk" the potential for Meta to be lumped in with "legacy media providers" that he said are perceived as biased.
"With the deadline for the TikTok ban/sale (January 19) and President Trump's inauguration (January 20) rapidly approaching, it makes sense that Meta would take more drastic efforts to align with the President's views in order to ease tensions ahead of his presidency and hopefully set the tone for the Trump/Meta relationship going forward," Kelley wrote to clients Tuesday.
Kelley rates Meta stock a buy.
Meta Stock: Up 7% To Start Year
On the stock market today, Meta stock is down more than 1% at 622.90 in afternoon trades. Shares gained 4% Monday and have gained about 7% in the first few trading days of the year.
The social media stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 98 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The score combines five separate proprietary ratings into one rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
