Meta Promises Free Speech

But apparently, not just yet.

Mark Zuckerberg posted a video message on January 7, 2025, pledging to make changes with a view toward eliminating censorship on Meta. Credit: Meta

On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, Meta/Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing its systems and policies to eliminate the rampant censorship that has become characteristic of the platform over the last several years. In a public video message published on Meta’s online “newsroom”, Zuckerberg explained that Meta had developed “complex systems for content moderation,” and blamed the censorship on “mistakes” made by these systems. He went on to add, “Even if they accidentally censor just one percent of posts, that’s millions of people. And we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes, and too much censorship.”

Call me cynical, but it just doesn’t feel like a mistake, or an accident. For several years now, truthers have been forced to use code words for “vaccine” and “covid”, because the mere inclusion of these words in a post was sure to guarantee it would be hidden or that the user would be placed in what became known as “Facebook Jail” for a period of time (or both). What makes Zuckerberg’s assertion even more laughable is that he admits in his video that the U.S. government has “pushed for more censorship,” and was “going after [Meta].” What Zuckerberg appears to be referencing is his admission to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last year, when in an August 26, 2024 letter he confessed:

"In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn't agree. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.”

So which was it? Either the censorship was the result of “mistakes” made by “complex systems” or it was the result of deliberate “decisions” Meta officials made in response to pressure by the U.S. government. It’s hard to believe that it could be both, since the supposed mistakes were consistent with the pressure to censor that Meta received from the government.

But wait, there’s more! Zuckerberg’s video message also contains a promise to “get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X.” He admits that the fact-checkers have been “too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created.” I just about fell out of my chair from laughter when I read this, given the fact that X has engaged in blatant censorship since X CEO Elon Musk made a similar pledge to uphold free speech on the platform. (For more on that, see here.)

I’d like to believe that Zuckerberg is different, that his promises ring less hollow than Musk’s. Some have pointed to the fact that he has become increasingly friendly with President Trump (he had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November), and the fact that just this week he named Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO (and Trump ally) Dana White to Meta’s board of directors, as evidence of a changed heart. But I’m not convinced. Musk is also very close to the President, and was even appointed by Trump to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency. Even if Trump is completely genuine in his stance against online censorship, it doesn’t mean that all of his friends are equally as genuine.

What about Zuckerberg’s video pledge to “get rid a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender, that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse”? Well, I submit for your consideration Exhibit A, an email I received from Meta just this morning with regard to the ad We The Patriots USA tried to run on Meta regarding our new lawsuit in defense of Oakland, California kindergarten teacher Mirella Ramirez, who was fired for refusing to use “preferred pronouns” in the classroom:

Here was the ad in question:

Let’s stand up for Mirella! https://wethepatriotsusa.org/breaking-wtp-usa-files-federal-lawsuit-on-behalf-of-california-kindergarten-teacher-fired-for-refusing-to-use-preferred-pronouns/

So much for getting rid of restrictions on topics like gender. Apparently using words like “trans indoctrination” is still considered an “unacceptable business practice” - at least for now. Giving Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt, his announcement was only made three days ago, and he did say that these changes would be implemented over the coming months. Time will tell if he is true to his word. But so far, it’s not looking good.