Meta’s move to end fact-checking is ‘transformative’ but won’t protect against legal action, experts say

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end Facebook’s work third party fact checkers and easing some of its content restrictions is a potentially “transformational” moment for the platform, experts said, but is unlikely to shield the company from liability in ongoing legal proceedings.

The updates were announced by Zuckerberg, who said in a video that previous content restrictions used by Facebook and Instagram, which were put in place after the 2016 election, had “gone too far” and allowed too much bias political from external facts. ladies

Meta will now replace that system with a “Community Notes”-style program, similar to the approach of social media platform X, he said. X is owned by Elon Muskthe co-director of the planned Government Efficiency Department.

“We’ve reached a point where it’s too much bugs and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said. “The recent election also feels like a cultural tipping point to re-prioritize speech. So we’re going back to our roots, focusing on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free speech on our platforms.”

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The news was praised by President-elect Donald Trump, who told Fox News Digital that he thought Meta’s presentation “was excellent.” “They’ve come a long way,” Trump said.

Still, it’s unlikely to ease the legal burden on Meta, which has been dogged in recent months by the possibility of a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit stemming from a privacy scandal involving political consultancy Cambridge Analytica .

The Supreme Court in November rejected Meta’s effort to block the lawsuit, upholding an appeals court decision that allowed the class action to move forward.

Meta has also been the target of multiple investigations led by Republicans in Congress. Republicans on the House Subcommittee on Armaments of the Federal Government last year investigated Meta’s activity and communication with the federal government and the Biden administration as part of a broader investigation into alleged censorship .

The platform was also examined by the House Oversight Committee in August, com part of an investigation in claims that the platform suppressed information about the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump.

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Combined, these factors make it unlikely that Meta will see his legal troubles go away anytime soon, law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said Fox News Digital in an interview.

“Facebook is now looking for a hard patch,” he said. “Not only do Republicans hold both houses of Congress and the White House, but there is ongoing litigation in the social media case in Texas.”

Also, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court is too unlikely to be nice to Meta’s views, if anything, centered on First Amendment protections and free speech rights.

House investigations and litigation have forced more of Meta’s actions into the public eye, which Turley said he expects will come under further scrutiny in the discovery process in Missouri v. Biden, a case that centers on allegations of political censorship.

“This discovery is still revealing new details,” Turley said. “Thus Meta understood that more details about his censorship program would be released in the coming months.”

Still, he said, this “could be a transformative moment,” Turley said.

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“And a Zuckerberg alliance with (Elon) Musk could turn the tide on that fight for freedom of expressionTurley said. “And as one of Zuckerberg’s most vocal critics, I welcome him to this fight.”