ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
1/7/24
6:42 PM
DAVID MUIR: This evening, there is news that the parent company of Facebook has now eliminated fact checking on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg recently meeting with President-Elect Trump, and what Facebook will now do instead. Here's Rebecca Jarvis.
REBECCA JARVIS: Tonight, a seismic shift in strategy. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing Meta will eliminate his third-party fact-checking, a program originally designed to combat misinformation.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: And we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship.
JARVIS: The change coming just days before Donald Trump takes office. Zuckerberg acknowledging the move was prompted in part by the election.
ZUCKERBERG: The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.
JARVIS: But Zuckerberg says the change also aligns with his long-held personal views on free speech.
ZUCKERBERG: I believe that people should decide what is credible, not tech companies.
JARVIS: Meta will phase in a community note system, letting users decide which posts are misleading. A model similar to X's, the platform run by Elon Musk. The move, a kind of reset for Zuckerberg and Facebook, which President-Elect Trump once called a true enemy of the people. Zuckerberg recently traveling to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump, and just yesterday, Meta adding key Trump ally Dana white, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to its board of directors.
And in fact, David, Mark Zuckerberg and Dana White have recently bonded over their shared passion for mixed martial arts. The President-Elect Trump today said he welcomed the changes from Meta and that the company's come a long way. David.
MUIR: All right. Rebecca Jarvis reporting. Rebecca, thank you.
