KINSHASA – January 10, 2025 – Meta’s decision to scrap third-party fact-checking is worrying

In the USA, Meta has announced the end of its collaboration with third-party fact-checkers. Thanks to these external fact-checkers, false information was independently flagged and, in the best of cases, removed from the network. This is particularly important at a time when targeted bots are trying to influence public opinion with false information for strategic or political reasons. 

The way in which Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg justifies his decision is an even more alarming sign for democratic understanding. 

As Angie Drobnic Holan, Director of the International Fact-Checking Network, reminds us: « This decision will hurt social media users who are looking for accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their everyday lives and interactions with friends and family. Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact-checkers used by Meta follow a Code of Principles requiring nonpartisanship and transparency. It’s unfortunate that this decision comes in the wake of extreme political pressure from a new administration and its supporters. Factcheckers have not been biased in their work — that attack line comes from those who feel they should be able to exaggerate and lie without rebuttal or contradiction. »  

Balobaki Check believes that if Zuckerberg is disparaging this fact-based approach as being biased, this is alarming for the future approach to Meta platforms. If other platforms such as TikTok follow suit, it would be a disaster.

Meta’s decision to scrap third-party fact-checking is worrying

Balobaki Check management 

Fact-checking – Meta: if Mark Zuckerberg extends his decision to Africa, it would contribute to an information disorder where access to information is limited in some countries