Fact-check on Zuckerberg's statement
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:34 am
Mark Zuckerberg claims that the fact-checking program limited free speech. However, the IFCN and other experts point out that fact-checkers never censored: they provided context and corrected falsehoods; “ Fact-checking journalism never censored. It added information and debunked conspiracy theories ,” responded Poynter’s Angie Drobnic . Meta never gave fact-checkers the ability or authority to remove accounts or content. Alternatively, one could argue that the freedom to say why something is not true is also a form of free speech, as the IFCN pointed out in an open letter .
Zuckerberg’s stance is part of a long history of Meta’s strategic gambling data portugal choices. It turns out that fact-checking initiatives have never been a sweetheart of Mark Zuckerberg. “ The area Zuckerberg is abandoning is one he never wanted to occupy in the first place , ” Axios puts it in context . The entire effort is “a distraction” from what has always been Facebook/Meta’s main priority: increasing engagement to sell more ads . In 2022 , Meta began cutting some of its content moderation and policy teams as part of broader budget cuts. Meta has also never applied its rules uniformly to all users, creating a double standard for influential users . Celebrities, politicians, and other prominent figures were given separate treatment, with their accounts often lacking or relaxed moderation. The system, called XCheck ( cross-check ), allowed certain accounts, including those of politicians and candidates, to routinely break the rules without consequences. Whistleblower Frances Haugen has exposed that Meta maintained a list of high-profile accounts, exempting these users from fact-checking and moderation, even when they spread false information.
With this decision, Meta is turning its back on the fight against disinformation and seems to favor profit and political influence. At a time when fake news, amplified by AI, has become a tidal wave, the attack is worrying. François-Xavier Lefranc, Chairman of the Board of Ouest-France , warns : “ The real threat comes from the libertarian political project that considers that these tools must be deregulated. That no rules should hinder their activity. What we call “the law” becomes “censorship” in the mouths of libertarians .”
THIS WEEK IN FRANCE
Algerian “influencers” increase tension between Paris and Algiers ( Le Monde )
Eve Szeftel becomes the new editorial director of Marianne ( Le Figaro )
In 2025, the price of newspapers will continue to increase ( La Revue des médias )
Thierry Breton: "Europe has an obligation to investigate Musk's practices" ( Les Echos )
Radio audiences: France Inter sets a new record and Europe 1 continues its comeback ( 20 Minutes )
To boost its audiences, RTL cuts advertising ( Le Figaro )
3 FIGURES
Google pays Canadian press $100 million in exchange for exemption from local neighbouring rights legislation ( The Canadian Press )
Disney says about 157 million users worldwide view ad-supported content ( CNBC )
Amazon plans to invest at least $11 billion in cloud, AI infrastructure in Georgia ( Wall Street Journal )
CHART OF THE WEEK
Could TikTok's sister app Lemon8 offer a lifeline to ByteDance and creators?
Source: Sherwood
OUR BEST READS / WORTH YOUR TIME / LONG READ
The Internet is worse than a brainwashing machine ( The Atlantic )
Will Progressive and Traditional Audiences Continue to Move Away from the News? ( CJR )
YouTube Shopping Wants to Dethrone TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia ( Rest Of World )
DISRUPTION, DISLOCATION, GLOBALIZATION
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Students Charged in Social Media Ploy Inspired by 'To Catch a Predator' ( New York Times )
Elon Musk hosts German far-right leader on X, raising concerns over election interference ( Reuters )
New York Passes Law to Protect Online Dating ( Vice )
DATA, TRUST, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, DISINFORMATION
Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program ( New York Times )
Apple announces update to AI feature after inaccurate news alerts ( The Guardian )
British universities pull out of Elon Musk's X platform, citing misinformation proliferating there ( Reuters )
Many people believe AI-generated images of the Hollywood sign burning ( 404 )
Screenshot 404
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS
Apple defends Siri after settling privacy case for $95 million ( Wall Street Journal )
Meta taps former Trump Justice Department lawyer to lead litigation strategy ( Reuters )
JOURNALISM
In Germany, feminists and artists win a case against a journalist tipped to present a major cultural programme ( Télérama )
Is Croatia at risk of becoming the only EU country without newsstands? ( Jutarnji List )
Piers Morgan leaves Rupert Murdoch's News UK in deal over YouTube show ( The Guardian )
Washington Post to lay off 4% of staff to cut costs ( Reuters )
Don't Underestimate Human Writers in the Age of AI ( Wired )
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Training AI models may not require huge data centres ( The Economist )
Screenshot from The Economist
SOCIAL NETWORKS, MESSAGING, APPS
UFC President Dana White Joins Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Group ( The Team )
Grok may soon offer an 'Unbridled Mode' ( TechCrunch )
Instagram has ended a program that paid creators for ads placed on their profiles ( Business Insider )
TikTok encourages users to switch to Lemon8 as ban looms ( Axios )
X rolls out labels for parody accounts ( TechCrunch )
STREAMING, OTT, SVOD
Disney Reaches Deal to Merge Hulu Live TV With Fubo, Ending Lawsuit Aiming to Block Sports Broadcaster Venu ( Variety )
Streaming platforms are about to undergo major upheaval ( Slate )
AUDIO, PODCAST, TERMINALS
Google's 'Daily Listen' Lab offers personalized podcast based on your Discover news feed ( 9to5Google )
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA, AUTOMATION
Thousands of documentaries feed AI models developed by Apple, Meta and Nvidia ( NiemanLab )
Perplexity partners with Tripadvisor to provide hotel information from real users ( The Verge )
Elon Musk's xAI launches Grok standalone app ( Wall Street Journal )
To interact with the real world, AI will need to acquire physical intelligence ( Wired )
ChatGPT's new feature lets users assign traits like 'chatty' and 'Generation Z' to it ( TechCrunch )
MONETIZATION, BUSINESS MODEL, ADVERTISING
Netflix to launch its own ad tech in the US in April ( The Media Leader )
Comcast to launch 'Universal Ads' to attract small advertisers and compete with tech giants ( CNBC )
Facebook ads with sexually explicit content raise concerns in Europe ( Washington Post )
How many ads are there on ad-supported streaming apps? ( Sherwood )
Sherwood Screenshot
By Kati Bremme, Océane Ansah and Alexandra Klinnik
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Zuckerberg’s stance is part of a long history of Meta’s strategic gambling data portugal choices. It turns out that fact-checking initiatives have never been a sweetheart of Mark Zuckerberg. “ The area Zuckerberg is abandoning is one he never wanted to occupy in the first place , ” Axios puts it in context . The entire effort is “a distraction” from what has always been Facebook/Meta’s main priority: increasing engagement to sell more ads . In 2022 , Meta began cutting some of its content moderation and policy teams as part of broader budget cuts. Meta has also never applied its rules uniformly to all users, creating a double standard for influential users . Celebrities, politicians, and other prominent figures were given separate treatment, with their accounts often lacking or relaxed moderation. The system, called XCheck ( cross-check ), allowed certain accounts, including those of politicians and candidates, to routinely break the rules without consequences. Whistleblower Frances Haugen has exposed that Meta maintained a list of high-profile accounts, exempting these users from fact-checking and moderation, even when they spread false information.
With this decision, Meta is turning its back on the fight against disinformation and seems to favor profit and political influence. At a time when fake news, amplified by AI, has become a tidal wave, the attack is worrying. François-Xavier Lefranc, Chairman of the Board of Ouest-France , warns : “ The real threat comes from the libertarian political project that considers that these tools must be deregulated. That no rules should hinder their activity. What we call “the law” becomes “censorship” in the mouths of libertarians .”
THIS WEEK IN FRANCE
Algerian “influencers” increase tension between Paris and Algiers ( Le Monde )
Eve Szeftel becomes the new editorial director of Marianne ( Le Figaro )
In 2025, the price of newspapers will continue to increase ( La Revue des médias )
Thierry Breton: "Europe has an obligation to investigate Musk's practices" ( Les Echos )
Radio audiences: France Inter sets a new record and Europe 1 continues its comeback ( 20 Minutes )
To boost its audiences, RTL cuts advertising ( Le Figaro )
3 FIGURES
Google pays Canadian press $100 million in exchange for exemption from local neighbouring rights legislation ( The Canadian Press )
Disney says about 157 million users worldwide view ad-supported content ( CNBC )
Amazon plans to invest at least $11 billion in cloud, AI infrastructure in Georgia ( Wall Street Journal )
CHART OF THE WEEK
Could TikTok's sister app Lemon8 offer a lifeline to ByteDance and creators?
Source: Sherwood
OUR BEST READS / WORTH YOUR TIME / LONG READ
The Internet is worse than a brainwashing machine ( The Atlantic )
Will Progressive and Traditional Audiences Continue to Move Away from the News? ( CJR )
YouTube Shopping Wants to Dethrone TikTok Shop in Southeast Asia ( Rest Of World )
DISRUPTION, DISLOCATION, GLOBALIZATION
UK competition regulator set to investigate tech giants under new regulatory framework ( Wall Street Journal )
TikTok Stars and Marketers Brace for App's Demise This Month ( New York Times )
Microsoft, Google and Adobe each donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund ( Bloomberg )
Students Charged in Social Media Ploy Inspired by 'To Catch a Predator' ( New York Times )
Elon Musk hosts German far-right leader on X, raising concerns over election interference ( Reuters )
New York Passes Law to Protect Online Dating ( Vice )
DATA, TRUST, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, DISINFORMATION
Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program ( New York Times )
Apple announces update to AI feature after inaccurate news alerts ( The Guardian )
British universities pull out of Elon Musk's X platform, citing misinformation proliferating there ( Reuters )
Many people believe AI-generated images of the Hollywood sign burning ( 404 )
Screenshot 404
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS
Apple defends Siri after settling privacy case for $95 million ( Wall Street Journal )
Meta taps former Trump Justice Department lawyer to lead litigation strategy ( Reuters )
JOURNALISM
In Germany, feminists and artists win a case against a journalist tipped to present a major cultural programme ( Télérama )
Is Croatia at risk of becoming the only EU country without newsstands? ( Jutarnji List )
Piers Morgan leaves Rupert Murdoch's News UK in deal over YouTube show ( The Guardian )
Washington Post to lay off 4% of staff to cut costs ( Reuters )
Don't Underestimate Human Writers in the Age of AI ( Wired )
STORYTELLING, NEW FORMATS
Pulitzer Prize Winner Quits Washington Post After Bezos Cartoon Censored ( NPR )
ENVIRONMENT
Training AI models may not require huge data centres ( The Economist )
Screenshot from The Economist
SOCIAL NETWORKS, MESSAGING, APPS
UFC President Dana White Joins Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Group ( The Team )
Grok may soon offer an 'Unbridled Mode' ( TechCrunch )
Instagram has ended a program that paid creators for ads placed on their profiles ( Business Insider )
TikTok encourages users to switch to Lemon8 as ban looms ( Axios )
X rolls out labels for parody accounts ( TechCrunch )
STREAMING, OTT, SVOD
Disney Reaches Deal to Merge Hulu Live TV With Fubo, Ending Lawsuit Aiming to Block Sports Broadcaster Venu ( Variety )
Streaming platforms are about to undergo major upheaval ( Slate )
AUDIO, PODCAST, TERMINALS
Google's 'Daily Listen' Lab offers personalized podcast based on your Discover news feed ( 9to5Google )
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA, AUTOMATION
Thousands of documentaries feed AI models developed by Apple, Meta and Nvidia ( NiemanLab )
Perplexity partners with Tripadvisor to provide hotel information from real users ( The Verge )
Elon Musk's xAI launches Grok standalone app ( Wall Street Journal )
To interact with the real world, AI will need to acquire physical intelligence ( Wired )
ChatGPT's new feature lets users assign traits like 'chatty' and 'Generation Z' to it ( TechCrunch )
MONETIZATION, BUSINESS MODEL, ADVERTISING
Netflix to launch its own ad tech in the US in April ( The Media Leader )
Comcast to launch 'Universal Ads' to attract small advertisers and compete with tech giants ( CNBC )
Facebook ads with sexually explicit content raise concerns in Europe ( Washington Post )
How many ads are there on ad-supported streaming apps? ( Sherwood )
Sherwood Screenshot
By Kati Bremme, Océane Ansah and Alexandra Klinnik
Stay up to date and subscribe to the newsletter!
International media news every Saturday in your inbox
Your email address
Register
Discover all the France Télévisions newsletters
On the same theme
Stray Links: When TikTok's Future Wavers, Issues for Users and Competition
wandering links
January 25, 2025
Stray Links: Xiǎo (小) Hóng (红) Shū (书), When Americans Choose to Entrust Their Data to China
wandering links
January 18, 2025
Stray Links: Reading in Peril, Surviving the Age of Brain Rot
wandering links
January 4, 2025
Read other articles on
creator economy
Gafam
Gen Z
Journalism
franceinfo about the media
See more on franceinfo