Perhaps the most striking signal of the sea change in US politics that has accompanied Donald Trump’s re-election has been the parallel rightward shift among the leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies. Initiated by Elon Musk, it has since been followed by a swathe of the most powerful figures in Silicon Valley, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.
In a video posted this week on Meta-owned Instagram, Zuckerberg announced a number of major changes to how Facebook, Instagram and Threads will treat the content posted on their platforms. The changes, which he described as a response to the “cultural shift” of last November’s presidential election, include the end of fact-checking, a loosening of guidelines on abusive speech and the relocation of moderation teams from Democrat-leaning California to Republican-leaning Texas.
The fact-checking process was far from perfect, as any user of social media can attest. But the new policies will increase the amount of misinformation and abuse on Meta’s platforms.
Zuckerberg’s intent could hardly be clearer. The changes may well reflect, as some reports suggest, his own personal shift towards a more libertarian position on questions of free speech. But they also conveniently align Meta’s businesses with the policy positions of the new administration and may afford them some protection against the retribution which some Trump loyalists have threatened against those they considers ideological enemies. More broadly, Zuckerberg, like his peers, may see opportunities in what is expected to be a more relaxed regulatory environment for lucrative mergers and acquisitions.
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It is hardly an accident that Meta’s new policies are almost identical to those of Elon Musk’s much smaller platform, X. That sets up the prospect of conflict with the European Union, where regulators are already moving to take action against X over alleged violations of EU law. With Meta effectively joining the fray, the scale of that battle will be greater. And Zuckerberg pointedly referred this week to working with Trump to push back against European regulation of US companies.
Musk’s recent interventions into European politics, including his vociferous support for far-right figures in Germany and the UK, have alarmed many in Europe, particularly in the wake of a US election in which he used his platform and financial might to great effect. But there is undeniable truth in Zuckerberg’s criticism of Europe as a hostile environment for innovation. The EU has struggled to come to terms with the new media landscape of the 21st century. It is now faced with the unpalatable reality that the platforms used by hundreds of millions of its citizens are controlled by people opposed to its values, backed by an aggressively hostile president.