Huge problems with axing truth checkers, Meta oversight board says

The co-chair of the independent body that reviews Facebook and Instagram content has said she is “very concerned” about how parent business Meta’s selection to ditch truth checkers will affect minority groups.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, from Meta’s oversight board, told the BBC she welcomed aspects of the shake-up, which will view users decide about the accuracy of posts via X-style “throng notes”.

However speaking on Today, on BBC Radio Four, she added there were “huge problems” with what had been announced, including the potential impact on the LGBTQ+ throng, as well as gender and trans rights.

“We are seeing many instances where despise talk can navigator to real-life damage, so we will be watching that space very carefully,” she said.

In a video posted alongside a blog post by the business on Tuesday, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the selection was motivated by “getting back to our roots around free expression”.

He said third-event truth checkers currently used by the firm were “too politically biased”, meaning too many users were being “censored”.

The selection has prompted questions about the survival of the board – which Meta funds – and was created by then president of global affairs, Sir Nick Clegg, who announced he was leaving the business less than a week ago.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt – a former Prime Minister of Denmark – insisted the changes to truth checking meant it was needed more than ever.

“That’s why it is excellent we have an oversight board that can discuss this in a transparent way with Meta”, she said.

She did welcome some of Meta’s announcement on moderation, including its aim to discover a recent way to truth-check after there had been instances of “over-enforcement”, with people ending up in “Facebook jail”

While Meta says the shift – which is being introduced in the US initially – is about free talk, others have suggested it is an attempt to get closer to the incoming Trump administration, and catch up with the access and influence enjoyed by another tech titan, Elon Musk.

The tech journalist and author Kara Swisher told the BBC it was “the most cynical shift” she had seen Mr Zuckerberg make in the “many years” she had been reporting on him.

“Facebook does whatever is in its self-profit”, she told Today.

“He wants to kiss up to Donald Trump, and catch up with Elon Musk in that act.”

However while campaigners against despise talk online reacted with dismay to the transformation some advocates of free talk have welcomed the information.

The US free talk throng Fire said: “Meta’s announcement shows the marketplace of ideas in action. Its users desire a social media platform that doesn’t suppress political content or use top-down truth-checkers.

“These changes will hopefully outcome in less arbitrary moderation decisions and freer talk on Meta’s platforms.”

Speaking after the changes were announced, Trump told a information conference he was impressed by Mr Zuckerberg’s selection and that Meta had “arrive a long way”.

Asked whether Mr Zuckerberg was “directly responding” to threats Trump had made to him in the history, the incoming US president responded: “Probably”.

Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged on Tuesday there was some uncertainty for the business in the transformation of way.

“It means we’re going to catch less impoverished stuff, but we’ll also reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally receive down,” he said in his video communication.

X’s shift to a more hands-off way to moderating content has contributed to a major fall-out with advertisers.

Jasmine Enberg, analyst at Insider Intelligence, said that was a uncertainty for Meta too.

“Meta’s massive size and powerhouse ad platform insulate it somewhat from an X-like user and advertiser exodus”, she told the BBC.

“But brand safety remains a key factor in determining where advertisers spend their budgets – any major drop in engagement could hurt Meta’s ad business, given the intense competition for users and ad dollars.”