Major change to Facebook and Instagram that will impact every Aussie - what you need to know
- Meta is dumping third-party fact-checkers
- Experts fear it will lead to more online abuse
- READ MORE: Donald Trump fans are saying the same thing about Meta's fact check u-turn
Experts have warned Australians will be exposed to more abuse and trolling as Facebook and Instagram abandon specialist fact-checking services.
Meta announced on Wednesday it would scrap its third-party fact-checking program, starting in the United States, over concerns it hampers free speech.
In a five-minute video message posted to Facebook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: 'We're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.
'More specifically, we're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the US.'
Digital marketing agency founder Sabri Suby, who also appeared as an investor on the Channel 10 show Shark Tank, said removing the muzzle would change the algorithm.
'All of us are going to see different content,' he said.
'This is a move to have the internet more aligned with what it was designed to be, which is to allow for free speech.
'And yes, there is certainly an ugly underbelly that will no doubt open up a whole lot of negativity, but that is also the world we live in. You can't put guardrails on the internet.'
Australians will be exposed to more abuse, trolling and the ugly underbelly of the internet as Facebook and Instagram abandon specialist fact-checking services, experts say. Stock image
The change, made a fortnight out from US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, came as no surprise to news and political communication expert Emma Briant.
'With at least 13 billionaires in his new administration, including Big Tech oligarchs like Musk, Trump has sent a powerful message across America's wealthy right-wing elite - now is your time, not theirs,' the Monash University associate professor said.
'Clearly (Meta boss) Mark Zuckerberg heard him loud and clear. Ordinary citizens should be very concerned.'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meanwhile warned social media giants they 'have a social responsibility' to the Australian public.
The fact-checking program typically involves journalists at internationally accredited agencies investigating and reviewing claims on social media through rigorous questioning, consideration of evidence and verification using multiple sources.
Posts deemed to be 'false' or 'altered' have a fact-check article appended to them and may receive reduced distribution across Meta's platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Meta announced on Wednesday it would scrap its third-party fact-checking program , starting in the United States, over concerns it hampers free speech. Stock image
A recent federal inquiry highlighted more Australians were concerned about misinformation and disinformation than the global average.
Nearly half of all young Australian adults, and 20 per cent across all age groups, use social media as their main source of news, according to a 2024 report by the federal media authority.
'Mr Zuckerberg's decision is all about maximising the profits of Meta his profits at the expense of community safety and human decency,' Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC radio on Wednesday.
'It's got nothing to do with freedom of speech and all got to do with maximum profits creating outrage, anger, abuse (and) supercharging that with secret algorithms that generate maximum profit through their advertising business model.
'It's dangerous, it's going to be damaging for democracy, and it will have ramifications back here in Australia.'
Australian Associated Press said its fact-checking agency AAP FactCheck's contract with Meta was not affected by the US decision and its work would continue in 2025.
'Independent fact-checkers are a vital safeguard against the spread of harmful misinformation and disinformation that threatens to undermine free democratic debate in Australia and aims to manipulate public opinion,' chief executive Lisa Davies said.
Meta said it decided to end the program because expert fact-checkers had their own biases and too much content ended up being checked.
'A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,' it said.
'We think (community notes) could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what they're seeing, and one that's less prone to bias.'
The boss of X welcomed Meta's decision, saying the move 'couldn't be more validating' for its own decision to let users police content themselves.
Chief executive Linda Yaccarino's statements came despite studies criticising X Corp's crowd-sourced fact-checking program, Community Notes, which researchers said allowed misinformation to spread without verification.
'Meta realised that it's the most effective, fastest fact-checking without bias,' she said.
Mr Zuckerberg threatened governments in Europe, South America and China that Meta would 'work with President Trump to push back against foreign governments going after American companies to censor more'.
He claimed that foreign governments have been demanding Facebook be censored or even taken down and they will work with Trump to stop them.
Meta said it will relocate its trust and safety teams from liberal California to more conservative Texas, mirroring Elon Musk's recent relocations.
'That will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams,' Zuckerberg said.
The shift came as the 40-year-old tycoon has been making efforts to reconcile with Trump since his election in November, including donating one million dollars to his inauguration fund.
