Mark Zuckerberg and Meta say good riddance to fact-checking

This is a case of kissing the ring,

said tech analyst Carolina Milanesi

There's potentially a bit of billionaire jealousy,

said Andrew Selepak, media professor at the University of Florida

Mark ZuckerbergcEO

The bottom line is: we take misinformation seriously,

Zuckerberg wrote at the time

Scott Galloway (professor)guest

This is –– Russia is the role model. We are becoming more like Russia every day, that's where we are,

Galloway said

Scott Galloway (professor)guest

With this decision, the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg gets kind of a two-fer,

Galloway said

Mark Zuckerberg owns 15 percent of the company, so you have what is effectively a get-out-of jail-card potentially from someone who appears to be an oligarch threatening to put people in jail and add $15 to $20 billion to his net worth,

he added

The greatest trade of 2024 –– it wasn't Bitcoin, it wasn't Nvidia -- it was Elon Musk investing a quarter of a billion dollars directly into the Trump campaign,

he said

Mark is a very centrist executive. He’s not a partisan either way.” ... But he has a cadre of professional political advisers and executives that have Republican profiles that are ascendant in the company.”

A Meta insider said ... The person added

Nina Jankowiczformer disinformation czar

Zuck’s announcement is a full bending of the knee to Trump and an attempt to catch up to Musk in his race to the bottom,

Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert, said on Bluesky, referring to tech billionaire Elon Musk

Brian Stelterwing CNN media critic

They are horrible stories, but oftentimes it seems like Musk is coming in like a brand new college freshman, brand new to a subject, as if he‘s found out about it for the first time,

Stelter remarked

Brian Stelterwing CNN media critic

He wants more positive content and less negative content, even as he posts about gangs and about rape and other very negative subjects. it is notable that just as Trump is about to take office, Musk says he wants more positivity, more positivity and less negativity,

Stelter said

Brian Stelterwing CNN media critic

Oftentimes, it seems that these tech CEOs actually are favouring or preferring a certain kind of speech,

Stelter stated

Ben Shapiroconservative commentator

This is a sea change in the direction at Facebook

Right-wing provocateur Ben Shapiro added

Facebook has just admitted that it wrongly censored the Trump “attempted assassination photo,” and got caught,

Trump posted on social media at the time

We made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn't make today

he added

Lindsey Grahamincoming Senate Budget Committee Chair

Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us. I know you don't mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,

Graham said

So, you didn’t take any action, you didn’t fire anybody, you haven’t compensated a single victim. Let me ask you this. There are families of victims here today. Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to apologize now

Hawley said, drawing applause from the audience

President Trump has always been a champion of free speech, and his landslide victory put an end to the Biden era of oppressive censorship."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Liz Huston, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson said

Mark ZuckerbergcEO

I’m sorry for everything you’ve all been through. No one should have to go through the things that your families suffered."

In response, Zuckerberg rose from his seat and addressed the crowd directly, saying

Joel Kaplanchief Global Affairs Officer

The thing is, as American companies, when other governments around the world that don’t have our tradition or our First Amendment, when they see the United States government pressuring U.S. companies to take down content, it is just open season then for those governments to put more pressure [on their companies],

explained Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan