{"id":2387735,"date":"2025-01-08T09:16:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T14:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zuckerberg-drops-fact-checking-says-process-eroded-trust-nyt-blames-fake-news\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T09:18:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T14:18:21","slug":"zuckerberg-drops-fact-checking-says-process-eroded-trust-nyt-blames-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zuckerberg-drops-fact-checking-says-process-eroded-trust-nyt-blames-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuckerberg Drops &#8216;Fact-Checking,&#8217; Says Process Eroded Trust. NYT Blames &#8230; Fake News"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fzuckerberg-drops-fact-checking-says-process-eroded-trust-nyt-blames-fake-news%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2387735&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent statement, Mark Zuckerberg\u200c announced the\u200d removal of Meta&#8217;s &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; system, which many\u2062 have\u200d criticized for being politically biased \u2064adn contributing to public distrust. He intends \u2064to replace it\u200b with \u2062a community notes system, similar to what Elon Musk has \u2062implemented on X \u200d(formerly Twitter). Zuckerberg \u2062explained\u200c that the previous system was\u200d a response to pressure from the media \u2064and \u200bWashington, especially following the results of \u2062the 2016 presidential election.He\u2064 claimed that fact-checkers, \u200csuch as those\u2064 from PolitiFact and Snopes, failed to restore trust and sometimes produced questionable outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Zuckerberg&#8217;s comments were met with criticism from various\u200c media\u2063 outlets, including \u2062the New York Times, which accused Meta\u2062 of mischaracterizing the\u2064 role \u2063of fact-checkers. \u200cThese fact-checkers\u2062 insisted that they \u2064were not responsible for content removal and that \u2064any actions\u200d taken were ultimately Meta&#8217;s\u2063 decisions. The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">debate reflects ongoing tensions<\/a> about misinformation and censorship \u200cin the digital landscape, with\u200d Zuckerberg advocating for a return to simpler policies and enhanced free\u200c expression\u2062 on\u2063 his platforms.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mark Zuckerberg thinks that the move toward so-called &ldquo;fact-checking&rdquo; articles on Meta&rsquo;s platforms &mdash; notably and Instagram &mdash; has just added to distrust and bias. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s taking it off and replacing it with a system similar to that employed by Elon Musk&rsquo;s X, on based around community notes.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times knows who&rsquo;s to blame for this: Meta and Zuckerberg, because the fact-checkers say that that&rsquo;s all fake news.<\/p>\n<p>And people wonder why the system is on its way out.<\/p>\n<p>In the five-minute speech posted to his platforms on Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mark-zuckerberg-axes-politically-biased-fact-check-system-announces-massive-free-speech-moves-facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zuckerberg<\/a> admitted the bloody obvious: that the &ldquo;fact-checking&rdquo; game was basically forced upon them by Washington, D.C., after the results of the presidential election that year.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The legacy media pushed to censor more and more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote non-stop how misinformation was harming democracy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Thus, being stretched over a barrel by Democrats in D.C. and the media, he and his company turned content policing over to the likes of PolitiFact, Snopes, and USA Today. While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/biggest-story-year-fact-check-outlet-snopes-admits-lefts-major-claim-trump-false\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Snopes<\/a> would end up quitting, arguing that it had a difficult time seeing the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2019\/feb\/01\/snopes-facebook-factchecking-program-false-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">net positive<\/a>&rdquo; in the arrangement, the rest of these left-leaning sources would stay on, often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/media-fact-checker-comes-excuse-biden-pick-wearing-russian-hat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with hilariously bad results<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Well, that way of delineating what&rsquo;s real and what&rsquo;s &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; is on its way out.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fvideos%2F1525382954801931%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms. More specifically, here&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re going to do. First, we&rsquo;re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/zuckerberg-bezos-among-tech-giants-kowtowing-trump-dont-fooled-friendly-gestures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zuckerberg<\/a> said during a video statement.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The fact checkers have just been too politically biased, and they&rsquo;ve destroyed more trust than they&rsquo;ve created, especially in the U.S.,&rdquo; he said, adding that while global restrictions on speech had hampered social media companies, countering them &ldquo;[has] been so difficult over the past four years when even the U.S. government has pushed for censorship.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/07\/business\/mark-zuckerberg-meta-fact-check.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">headline<\/a> in response: &ldquo;Meta Says Fact-Checkers Were the Problem. Fact-Checkers Rule That False.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Yes, apparently, the fact-checkers that Meta\/Facebook\/Instagram worked with were upset at the characterization because &mdash; get this &mdash; the Times says they claim &ldquo;they had no role in deciding what the company did with the content that was fact-checked.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In other words, it&rsquo;s fake news that fact-checkers were actively policing fake news, which is the real problem. In fact, the Times seemed to imply by the very premise of the article, the problem was too&nbsp;<em>little<\/em> power was given to the fact-checkers, not too <em>much<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe we were doing anything, in any form, with bias,&rdquo; said Poynter Institute president Neil Brown. (Poynter runs PolitiFact, arguably the worst offender among the bunch, making this particularly amusing.)<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a mountain of what could be checked, and we were grabbing what we could,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, other fact-checkers sung a similar tune &mdash; a tune that was passed on verbatim without any (dare I say it) fact-checking by the Times.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We did not, and could not, remove content,&rdquo; said Lori Robinson, managing editor of another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-will-label-all-posts-about-coronavirus-vaccine-promote-authoritative-information\/\" title=\"Facebook Will Label All Posts About Coronavirus Vaccine, Promote \u2018Authoritative Information\u2019\">fact-checking partner<\/a>, FactCheck.org. &ldquo;Any decisions to do that were Meta&rsquo;s.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times says that, according to the fact-checkers, &ldquo;Meta ultimately decided how to respond to the fact-checks, adding warning labels, limiting the reach of some content or even removing the posts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This is is a statement that, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/politifact-wont-remove-false-fact-check-saying-rittenhouse-illegally-possessed-gun-charge-tossed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PolitiFact<\/a> might say, is &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/facebook-censors-ad-about-joe-biden-allowing-men-to-participate-in-womens-sports-politifact-says-it-cant-fact-check-future\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">missing context<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Did the fact-checkers, on their own, stipulate which content was taken off the platform? No, but it&rsquo;s quite obvious what their function was: to tell the world&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-ceo-calls-for-regulations-that-would-stifle-competitors\/\" title=\"Facebook CEO Calls for Regulations That Would Stifle Competitors\">largest social media company<\/a> what passes muster and what doesn&rsquo;t. The Democrats were so outraged in the aftermath of the 2016 election that they were looking for anyone to blame, and was a popular patsy.<\/p>\n<p>While the Russians eventually became a more fashionable bogeyman, fact-checking was deemed more or less a necessity for the continued operation of and Instagram as a purveyor of news without significant interference by the government. Whatever the fact-checkers said was pretty much the law, right or wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and they got a lot wrong. Remember <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ex-cia-agent-said-hunter-laptop-russian-disinformation-failed-disclose-significant-big-tech-role\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hunter Biden&rsquo;s laptop<\/a> &mdash; a story that limited the visibility of, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/business\/2025\/01\/07\/five-times-facebooks-fact-checkers-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.K. Telegraph<\/a> noted? They added a note saying this: &ldquo;If we have signals that a piece of content is false, we temporarily reduce its distribution pending review by a third<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-rep-jim-banks-demands-answers-from-facebook-over-new-york-posts-reporting-on-hunter-biden\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Jim Banks Demands Answers From Facebook Over New York Post\u2019s Reporting On Hunter Biden\">-party fact-checker<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>They also hid stories that questioned the conventional establishment wisdom regarding COVID-19, particularly its origins or its treatments.<\/p>\n<p>All of this was basically solved in a single stroke with X&rsquo;s community notes system, which took Elon Musk practically no time flat to implement. Zuckerberg knows a good idea when he sees one, although apparently he doesn&rsquo;t know enough to have the idea. We&rsquo;re still just happy that he knows when to borrow it.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, the establishment media &mdash; of which, let&rsquo;s be honest, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/former-chief-cbs-correspondent-cant-believe-far-network-fallen-debate-fact-checking-debacle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fact-checkers<\/a> are obviously a part of &mdash; is lamenting the fact that fact-checkers are losing their power over social media. In the same breath, they claim they never had that power in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Fact-checking is public service journalism, and we&rsquo;re more convinced than ever that it&rsquo;s needed in an increasingly busy and confusing political messaging landscape,&rdquo; Lori Robinson of FactCheck.org said at the end of the blog post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2025\/01\/our-partnership-with-meta-is-ending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cited<\/a> by the Times.<\/p>\n<p>It didn&rsquo;t do anything substantive in terms of the removal of content &hellip; and she&rsquo;s &ldquo;more convinced than ever that it&rsquo;s needed in an increasingly busy and confusing political messaging landscape.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If that doesn&rsquo;t tell you everything you need to know about the duplicitousness of the fact-checking racket instituted by the legacy media in the wake of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/nyts-hit-piece-includes-fact-check-trump-paid-1-million-2016-4-2-million-2017-us-treasury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 elections<\/a>, nothing will.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<style> \t\t\t \t\t\t.insticator-unit.type-commenting{margin: 0 10px 25px 10px}@media screen and (max-width:1060px){#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{margin: 0 auto 25px auto !important;}}#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{height: 280px !important; width: 336px !important} \t\t<\/style>\n<div class=\"insticator-unit type-commenting\">\n<div class=\"insticator-ads\"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> \t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"insticator-ads additional\"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> \t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Zuckerberg believes that the introduction of &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; articles on Meta&#8217;s platforms, especially Instagram, has only increased distrust and bias. Consequently, he plans to eliminate this system and implement a model akin to Elon Musk&#8217;s X, which relies on community notes. The New York Times attributes the blame for this shift to Meta and Zuckerberg, as fact-checkers have labeled much of the content as fake news. In a recent five-minute speech shared on his platforms, Zuckerberg acknowledged that they were pressured into adopting fact-checking by Washington after the 2016 presidential election. He stated that legacy media pushed for more censorship following Trump&#8217;s election due to concerns about misinformation harming democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Under pressure from Democrats and media outlets, Zuckerberg&#8217;s company delegated content moderation responsibilities to organizations like PolitiFact and Snopes. While Snopes eventually withdrew from this arrangement citing its ineffectiveness, other left-leaning sources remained involved with questionable outcomes. Now, Zuckerberg is moving away from this approach: \u201cWe\u2019re going back to our roots by reducing errors and simplifying policies while restoring free expression,\u201d he announced in a video statement.<\/p>\n<p>He criticized fact-checkers for their political bias and claimed they eroded trust rather than building it up in the U.S., noting that global speech restrictions have complicated matters for social media companies over recent years due to government pressures for censorship. The New York Times responded with an article titled \u201cMeta Says Fact-Checkers Were the Problem. Fact-Checkers Rule That False,\u201d highlighting how these fact-checkers felt mischaracterized since they assert they had no influence over how Meta handled flagged content.<\/p>\n<p>In essence, it suggests it&#8217;s misleading to claim that fact-checkers were actively monitoring misinformation when their role was more advisory\u2014indicating what should be considered credible or not. Following outrage from Democrats post-2016 elections seeking someone accountable led them initially toward blaming misinformation rather than addressing broader issues like foreign interference.<\/p>\n<p>Zuckerberg\u2019s decision reflects a broader trend where establishment media expresses concern over losing control of social media narratives while simultaneously denying ever having such power in the first place\u2014a contradiction underscored by comments from Lori Robinson of FactCheck.org about needing public service journalism amidst complex political messaging despite acknowledging limited impact on content removal decisions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2387736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/zuck-explains.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14599,34247,36829,6521,4576],"class_list":["post-2387735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fact-checking","tag-fake-news","tag-media-accountability","tag-trust","tag-zuckerberg"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/zuck-explains.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2387735"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387739,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387735\/revisions\/2387739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2387736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2387735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2387735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2387735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}