Facebook’s new guidelines and censorship draw mixed reactions from Americans

Americans have had mixed reactions to Meta’s decision this week to end its fact-checking program, with some telling Fox News Digital the move is concerning.

“Freedom of speech should be absolute,” one interviewee told Fox News Digital in Texas. “I don’t think anyone has the right to censor anyone.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that he would end fact-checking programs and lift speech restrictions to “restore free speech” on Facebook, Instagram and other Meta platforms, acknowledging that its current content moderation practices “go too far.” . Zuckerberg said Meta’s new system will be similar to Elon Musk’s community comments on X.

“I like getting rid of fact-checkers. Fact-checkers don’t really do much fact-checking, just fact-checking on the people who pay them to fact-check,” Rudy told Fox News Digital. “In my opinion, they can’t be trusted. Same thing, just pushed the button, a little too late. But I think it’s better than what they had.”

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Other Americans told Fox News Digital the news was disappointing.

“That’s disappointing to me because you want all of your social media to be fact-checked as well as possible so you can get accurate information. I’m really concerned that Facebook might not be as fact-checked as it should be. Process, I believe,” Gregg told Fox Digital News.

Executives said Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was implemented after the 2016 election largely out of “political pressure” and was used to “moderate content” and misinformation on the platform, but acknowledged the system “is outdated “. Far away. ”

Many people told Fox News Digital that they had not heard about Meta’s announcement.

Facebook app on your smartphone. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutson)

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“Honestly, a few years ago, I probably would have said, ‘Well, this is a private company. They have the right to do what they want, and people should use their own brains to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong. ‘s, what’s real.’ But, I’m a psychology student, and I’ve come to realize that people don’t always stop and think for themselves, so maybe they need other people to fact-check them, so, yeah, That’s concerning,” Melissa said.

Fox News Digital also asked Texas residents about Zuckerberg moving Meta’s content moderation team to the state.

“Yeah, we’ll give them a chance and see how it goes,” Greg said. “I’ve given up all social media, you know, just because it’s not fact-checked and it’s not regulated like I think it should be.”

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Madeline, another Texan, told Fox News Digital that Zuckerberg is most likely to move to Texas because businesses are “easier to operate” in the state, and questioned him about moving operations out of California reasons.

Elizabeth Heckman reported from Texas.

Fox News’ Brooke Singleman contributed to this report.