According to Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, Meta will cease to employ any fact-checkers in the United States on Monday.

Meta disclosed this substantial policy modification in January, concurrently with its relaxation of its content moderation policies.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, attended President Trump’s inauguration after contributing $1 million to the inauguration fund.

This transition occurred at the same time. At the same time, Zuckerberg appointed Dana White, the CEO of UFC and a longstanding supporter of Donald Trump, to Meta’s board.

In the video that announced the moderation adjustments, Zuckerberg also stated, “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech.”

However, some of the speech that Zuckerberg is so determined to prioritize is at the expense of marginalized individuals.

“We do permit allegations of mental illness or abnormality that are based on gender or sexual orientation, in light of the political and religious discourse surrounding transgenderism and homosexuality,” states Meta’s offensive conduct policy.

Meta is emulating the Community Notes at Elon Musk’s X in its new fact-checking endeavors, which allocated a portion of the responsibility for moderation to other users rather than paid professionals.

Kaplan stated on X that the initial Community Notes will be progressively introduced across Facebook, Threads, and Instagram in lieu of fact checks, with no associated penalties.

Although this community-based approach to content moderation can occasionally offer valuable context to controversial or misleading posts, it is more effective when used in conjunction with other content moderation tools, which Meta is eliminating.

Meta’s most valuable asset is its users’ attention, and the absence of content moderation results in a greater number of posts for users to view. Additionally, Meta’s news feed is prone to presenting content that elicits a strong response.

False content has already begun to circulate as Meta began to reduce its fact-checking initiatives.

One Facebook page manager, who disseminated the viral, false claim that ICE would compensate individuals for informing them about undocumented immigrants, informed ProPublica that the conclusion of the fact-checking program is “excellent news.”

Kaplan wrote in January, “We are eliminating a number of restrictions on topics such as immigration, gender identity, and gender that are frequently the subject of political discourse and debate.”

“It is unjust that certain statements can be made on television or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms.”