Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a decisive turn to the right in the days leading up to President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, implementing a series of sweeping policy and practice changes that have sparked controversy among employees, users, and advocacy groups.
Zuckerberg stated that some adjustments to Meta’s fact-checking and moderation systems aim to reduce censorship and uphold free speech across its platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. However, the impact of these changes extends far beyond social media moderation. Reports suggest that Meta has also revised its internal policies—ranging from workplace practices, such as restroom policies, to modifications in its corporate governance. Additionally, the company has scaled back previously implemented aesthetic features on its platforms that celebrated trans visibility.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the changes Meta has introduced over the past week.
Community Notes in place of third-party fact-checkers
Last Tuesday, Meta announced plans to replace its existing fact-checking system with a new approach similar to X’s Community Notes. The rollout will begin in the United States over the next couple of months.
Meta’s previous fact-checking system, introduced in 2016, relied on certified third-party fact-checkers to review and flag posts containing misinformation. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized the system, describing it as “too politically biased” and claiming it “destroyed more trust than it created.”
The new Community Notes system will allow users to contribute and rate notes that provide additional context to posts. For a note to appear publicly, it will require agreement from individuals with diverse perspectives, a measure Meta says is designed to reduce bias.
Republicans have frequently voiced support for X’s Community Notes model and were critical of Meta’s prior fact-checking system, arguing that it unfairly targeted right-wing content. Research, however, has indicated that conservatives are more likely to share misinformation, which leads to more moderation actions. Critics of the changes fear that the new system could enable misinformation to spread unchecked on Meta’s platforms.
In a video posted to Facebook, Zuckerberg announced updates to Meta’s enforcement policies. He stated that the flaws in the old system were responsible for the “vast majority of censorship” and outlined a more targeted approach. The new policy will focus on addressing illegal content and “high-severity” violations, while less serious issues will be handled through the Community Notes system. Users will need to report posts they believe lack context or contain misinformation proactively.
The announcement has generated a polarized response.
Many Meta employees have expressed concerns about ending third-party fact-checking. One employee wrote on Workplace, Meta’s internal communications platform, that the decision was “extremely concerning” and sent a troubling message that “facts no longer matter,” conflating this with an emphasis on free speech.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized the move as “extremely serious,” and the country’s attorney general warned that legal action might be taken unless Meta clarifies its new measures.
Conversely, right-wing figures have celebrated the changes. Fox News reporter Brooke Singman reported that former President Donald Trump said Meta has “come a long way.” Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, also expressed approval, writing, “This is cool,” on X.
Increased political content
In a video posted last Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced that Meta aims to reintroduce political discourse across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
“We’re bringing back civic content,” Zuckerberg stated in the video. “For a while, our community asked to see less political content because it was causing stress, so we stopped recommending these posts. But it feels like we’re in a new era now, and we’re starting to hear feedback that people want to engage with this content again.”
He noted that the recent election played a significant role in Meta’s decision to overhaul its fact-checking system and refocus on “prioritizing speech.” He also mentioned plans to collaborate closely with President-Elect Trump’s upcoming administration to “push back on governments worldwide that are targeting American companies and increasing censorship efforts.”
“The only way to counter this global trend is with the support of the U.S. government,” Zuckerberg said. “This has been particularly challenging over the past four years, as even the U.S. government has advocated for censorship.”
Before Meta began reducing political content in 2021, a study by the Brookings Institution revealed that conservative-leaning podcasters sharing “false and misleading content” could reach a combined audience of over 28 million followers on Facebook and Twitter.
Relaxing restrictions on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and ending Meta’s diversity programs
On Friday, Meta informed its employees via an internal communications platform that it would be discontinuing several initiatives focused on hiring diverse candidates. This includes dismantling its diversity, equity, and inclusion team and eliminating the “Diverse Slate Approach” in its recruitment process.
The New York Times reported that two Meta employees revealed the company had instructed its offices in Silicon Valley, Texas, and New York to remove tampons from men’s restrooms, which had been made available to support nonbinary and transgender employees.
404 Media also reported that Meta had removed nonbinary and transgender-themed designs from its Messenger app. The app’s “themes” feature allowed users to customize the colors and designs of their chats, including “trans” and “nonbinary” themes featuring the colors of the transgender and nonbinary flags. Meta had introduced these themes in celebration of Pride Month, rolling out the trans theme in June 2021 and the nonbinary theme the following year.
Meta also updated its “Hateful Conduct” policy, now permitting posts that describe LGBTQ individuals as mentally ill.
“We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality, as well as the common non-serious use of words like ‘weird,’” the policy states.
The updated policy also permits posts discussing “gender-based limitations of military, law enforcement, and teaching jobs” and the use of “sex- or gender-exclusive language” when describing “access to spaces often limited by sex or gender, such as bathrooms, specific schools, certain military, law enforcement, or teaching roles, and health or support groups.”
In a video posted to Facebook, Zuckerberg explained that Meta would be “simplifying content policies” related to topics like gender and immigration.
“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and silence people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far,” he said. “I want to ensure people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.”
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, similarly told Fox News that the previous system was “too restrictive” on “sensitive topics like immigration, trans issues, and gender.”
Notable departures and new appointments
Former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that he would be stepping down from his role as Meta’s president of global affairs this month after nearly seven years. Joel Kaplan, a Republican and former White House deputy chief of staff, has taken over the position.
Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a longtime ally of Donald Trump, is also joining Meta’s board of directors, along with John Elkann, CEO of the Italian auto holding company Exor, and Charlie Songhurst, former head of strategy at Microsoft.
In a statement, White explained that he had not been “interested in joining a board of directors” until the opportunity with Meta arose. Following the announcement, 404 Media reported that Meta employees expressed criticism and made jokes about his appointment on Workplace, which were subsequently removed by the company’s Internal Community Relations team for violating its “Community Engagement Expectations.”
On the same day Meta announced it would end its diversity programs, Roy Austin, the company’s vice president for civil rights and deputy general counsel, revealed on Facebook that he would be stepping down.
Jobs in a conservative state
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta’s trust and safety and content moderation teams would be relocating from California to Texas.
“As we work to promote free expression, I believe this move will help build trust by doing this work in places where there’s less concern about the bias of our teams,” he said.
Following the announcement, former Meta employees shared on Bluesky and Meta’s own platform, Threads, that the company already had trust and safety moderation teams operating in Austin, Texas.
Similarly, in July, Musk moved SpaceX’s and X’s headquarters from California to Texas. That same month, the U.S. Supreme Court sent back to a lower court a case questioning the constitutionality of Texas and Florida laws aimed at regulating social media companies’ content moderation practices.
