Meta to overhaul content moderation: Fewer factcheckers, more political content

Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, is set to implement sweeping changes to its content moderation policies.

According to reports, founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would eliminate its fact-checking teams and replace them with a community-driven approach, similar to that of X (formerly Twitter). The move, which will begin in the United States, aims to prioritize free speech and reduce political bias in content moderation.

In a recent video message, Zuckerberg explained that Meta's fact-checkers had become "too politically biased" and were eroding trust rather than building it. He added that content filters would now focus only on illegal and high-severity violations, with users encouraged to report less severe issues.

The new policy will see Meta's content moderation teams relocated from California to Texas, where Zuckerberg believes there is "less concern about the bias" of the teams. While the changes will reduce censorship, Zuckerberg acknowledged that this approach would lead to less effective filtering of harmful content, affirming to "catch less bad stuff."

The overhaul comes amid heightened political tension in the US, with Meta taking a more hands-off stance following Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Meta’s decision also follows the announcement that Nick Clegg, the company’s former president of global affairs, would step down. His replacement, Joel Kaplan, is a prominent Republican, which could signal a shift toward a more conservative approach in Meta’s policy-making, the report added.

Zuckerberg’s announcement has drawn reactions from Meta’s oversight board, which praised the move to revise fact-checking but stressed the importance of outside voices in the content moderation process. The board called for greater transparency and input from users to ensure the new policy is as effective as possible.

The changes could have global implications, particularly in regions like Europe, where Meta faces increasingly stringent censorship laws, the report added.

In the UK, authorities have expressed concern over the new approach. The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology warned that Meta must still comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires the removal of illegal content and harmful material related to children.