The company Meta (Facebook) is saying goodbye to its fact checks in the USA shortly before the start of Donald Trump’s second term in office.
We do not agree with this deviating ‘evaluation’ of content and have therefore deleted our Facebook account.
Background story
For years, social media has increasingly been publishing false information that does not stand up to verification. If such statements remain unchallenged, they can be used as a tool for the targeted manipulation of public opinion.
Fact-checkers are usually independent journalists who verify the truth of a statement according to journalistic standards.
To do this, they research, for example, whether the quotes used are really true or whether the statement in the post can be backed up by serious studies or statistics. They then evaluate the statements according to categories such as ‘true’ or ‘fictitious’.
New: "Community Notes"
Fact checkers have been abolished on Facebook in the USA; instead, users will in future vote themselves on whether statements are true or false using ‘community notes’ on the meta-platforms.
Criticism: The seemingly ‘democratic’ form of finding the truth can be manipulated relatively easily. It is also questionable whether the participating users are so well informed that they can make a valid judgement about the truthfulness of the content.
If users become aware of potentially misleading or false statements, they can publicise their doubts. Helpful comments can be rated positively by other users, unhelpful comments negatively. If enough users rate a comment as helpful, it will be displayed prominently next to the criticised post.
Zuckerberg announced that, together with US President Trump, he would ‘take action against governments around the world’ that allegedly put pressure on US companies such as Meta because of their commitment to freedom of expression.
In the European Union, fact checks are still active thanks to EU laws (Digital Services Act, DSA for short).
The approach in the USA, on the other hand, is absolutely unacceptable from my point of view.
We have therefore deleted our Facebook account.
Olaf Michalke
