Zuckerberg’s Meta risks becoming an engine for Trumpian propaganda

Editorial: The truth will be the main casualty of Facebook’s decision to scrap fact-checking – and risks facilitating a new era of fake news

During his pre-inauguration press conference, president-elect Donald Trump was asked whether he thought Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to scrap fact-checking on Facebook was “because of your threats to him”. Mr Trump replied: “Probably.”

At least Mr Trump’s judgement is sound on that – and corroborated by Mr Zuckerberg himself. In a social media clip, the Meta boss (whose digital empire encompasses Facebook, Threads and Instagram) freely admitted that “the recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising speech. So, we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.”

Mr Zuckerberg implies that in the future there will be more “bad stuff” circulating on his platforms. More “political” content is promised for Facebook – and by that we may expect further viral conspiracies and untruths. As with Elon Musk’s Twitter network (now X), “community notes” will be expected to suffice to prevent abuse.

Facebook, Instagram and Thread could, then, soon become shadows of their former pomp; a platform for antisemites, Islamophobes and other outlier beliefs, including vile racism.

American politics risks becoming more unbalanced, as it would mean that every social media platform (apart from Bluesky) could be co-opted as an engine for Trumpian propaganda; allying perfectly with Fox News and other unregulated far-right outlets. Freedom of speech and democracy might thereby be diminished, whatever the first amendment might say.

None of this is necessary, let alone beneficial to the quality of political debate. As has been seen with the recent degradation of X, a social media platform can too easily decline into an echo chamber for bots and foreign agents of mischief, hate and division. The main casualty is always truth.

This matters greatly. Over the past decade, social media has developed into a set of channels where many people find their news – and where their views (or their prejudices) find confirmation. During the forthcoming Trump presidency, we might expect them increasingly to become vectors for “fake news”, a collection of “alternative facts” and unscientific beliefs. In such a climate, it will grow ever more difficult for people to distinguish fact from Trumpian fiction.

As tech billionaires, Mr Musk, Mr Zuckerberg and their peers are presumably looking to Mr Trump for protection.

Using the threat of tariffs and withdrawal of defence and security cooperation, as appropriate, the Trump administration may be expected to pressure the European Union, China, Latin American nations, the UK and others to drop the kind of regulations that are seen as so irksome and inimical to revenue and earnings growth.

Thus, to take a prime current example in the UK, any attempt to restrain Mr Musk’s interference in British politics could be met with the full diplomatic weight of the White House. Alliances with friendly nations may feasibly become fractured in the cause of promoting X, Instagram, Facebook – and Trumpian fake news.

The interests and welfare of people who live in Western liberal democracies must be protected, rather than subsumed to those of the Maga movement – Mr Trump, his family, and a handful of friendly mega-rich men – if democracy and a free press are to survive.