Mark Zuckerberg scrapped Meta’s censorship policies after his own Facebook post in 2023 about a martial-arts related knee injury got demoted by algorithms that were designed to curb misinformation — squelching traffic and rendering it a flop, according to a report.
In November 2023, the Meta CEO posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed following surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee — an injury that he sustained while training for a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament.
“Tore my ACL sparring and just got out of surgery to replace it,” the CEO wrote in the Facebook post, managing a clinched fist with his bandaged, braced knee propped up and jutting towards the camera.
“I was training for a competitive MMA fight for early next year, but now that’s delayed a bit,” the 40-year-old tech tycoon added. “Still looking forward to it after I recover. Thanks to everyone for the love and support.”
To Zuckerberg’s dismay, the post drew “anemic attention”. He investigated and learned that Facebook’s software engineers had tweaked the algorithm to limit the spread of health-related content due to fears that it includes false information, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A peeved Zuckerberg demanded a probe that “snowballed into a full-scale review of the company’s algorithmic demotions” to determine whether it was a case of overreach, the Journal reported.
The Post has sought comment from Meta.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told the Journal that Zuckerberg’s shift towards free speech was based on his long-held beliefs and downplayed Zuckerberg’s gripe about his own post, according to the paper.
Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that Meta would end its partnerships with third party fact-checkers and institute a “Community Notes” model similar to that of Elon Musk’s social media platform
The Facebook founder admitted that his tech company has engaged in “too much censorship” — alluding to the platform’s move to limit the sharing of The Post’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as well as pressure from the Biden administration to crack down on Covid-related misinformation.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video on Tuesday.
The move was met with consternation and criticism from Meta employees who complained that it would lead to rampant misinformation across Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
The stunning reversal will include moving Meta’s content moderation team from deep-blue California to right-leaning Texas in order to insulate the group from cultural bias — a move that looked like another page out of Musk’s playbook.
Zuckerberg’s company announced last week that it would add Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, and two others to the board of directors.
Meta has also sought to reorient itself politically by naming Joel Kaplan as chief global affairs officer. Kaplan, who once served as deputy chief of staff for George W. Bush, replaced Nick Clegg, who once headed the UK Liberal Democrat Party.
At a press conference hours after Zuckerberg posted the video on Tuesday, Trump praised the changes.
“I think they’ve come a long way, Meta,” Trump said.
When asked if he believed Zuckerberg made the changes in response to threats the incoming president has made, Trump responded: “Probably.”
Meta is among several tech companies apparently working to get in Trump’s good graces before he takes office later this month.
Meta and Amazon each donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in December, and Zuckerberg had dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Amazon announced a documentary on incoming first lady Melania Trump. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, blocked the editorial board of his newspaper, The Washington Post, from endorsing Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, just before the election.
Vanity is my favorite sin
The dopamine drip for likes hits so hard for the Zuck that his ACL surgery is what made him realize his platform is dogshit.
Not 2 years of COVID lies and misinformation that’s all demonstrably false. Nah, his fuckin’ ACL surgery…
Remember when ‘fact checkers’ would arbitrarily suspend people for pointing out the Hunter Biden laptop was real?
Not just his ACL surgery, but his attempt to look like some kind of BJJ/MMA bad-ass to the masses went unnoticed.
Snopes said this is false
It’s obviously Zuckerberg wants to be an alpha, but following Elon’s every move just makes you a beta.
If he had the cajones to tell the jewish lobby to kick dirt, he’d one-up Elon and make him look bought and paid for.
If you insinuate that jews control the media, a Berg will ban you from that media.
Useful idiots think nothing of it.
Snopes also said that pregnant women should get the Covid vax, even if they’ve already had Covid and much more along those lines.
Snopes is wielded by the enemy. Discard it.
He’s full of shit and will always take the side of whoever is in charge. Fuck that asshole
Lock him up
Zuckerberg is trying to avoid prosecution for all the BS censorship, banning and thumb on the scales shit his company did during election cycles and Covid.
He’s not suddenly a free speech champion
It’s possible, but it’s also possible that he just caved in to pressure from outside (like the weaponized alphabet organizations) to censor things.
He always struck me as someone who’s not much into political shit, just an autistic tech wiz that let other people deal with that stuff.