Zuckerberg’s Strategy: Balancing FTC Pressures and Political Alliances at Meta

Mark Zuckerberg ditches Meta’s fact-checking program while continuing to ban conservative voices as he seeks favor with President Trump to fight FTC antitrust case.

Quick Takes

Meta announced an end to its fact-checking program, replacing it with a user-based system similar to X’s Community Notes.
Despite the pivot toward “free expression,” many prominent conservative accounts remain banned on Meta platforms.
Zuckerberg has been making regular White House visits to lobby Trump regarding the FTC’s antitrust case that could force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta executives briefed Trump officials in advance about the policy changes, which were well-received by Trump’s conservative allies.
Critics accuse Zuckerberg of hypocrisy, pointing to his past financial support for progressive causes while now seeking favors from the Trump administration.

Meta Overhauls Content Moderation Approach

Meta has announced a substantial shift in its content moderation practices by ending its fact-checking program that had been in place since concerns about misinformation arose during the 2016 presidential campaign. The company will now implement a user-based system for identifying potential misinformation, similar to Elon Musk’s Community Notes feature on X. This change represents a significant reversal of Meta’s previous stance on monitoring political content and misinformation across its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram.

“It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression,” stated Mark Zuckerberg, acknowledging potential trade-offs with this new approach. The CEO’s statement signals a shift toward prioritizing speech over the more restrictive policies that had dominated the platform in recent years. Joel Kaplan, a Meta executive, added that the company aims to “undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement.”

Political Timing Raises Questions

The timing of Meta’s policy shift has not gone unnoticed. The company made these announcements shortly after President Trump’s return to office, with Meta executives having briefed Trump officials about the changes beforehand. The move to relocate content moderation teams from California to Texas further suggests an effort to realign with conservative perspectives. These changes have been well-received by Trump’s conservative allies, who had long criticized Meta’s previous fact-checking practices as biased against right-leaning viewpoints.

“I think Elon’s played an incredibly important role in moving the debate and getting people refocused on free expression,” said Joel Kaplan of Meta in comments to the New York Times.

Meta has also been facing scrutiny over technical issues affecting searches for Democratic Party-related content on Instagram. Searches for terms like “Democrats” and hashtags such as “#DNC” were being blocked and labeled as “sensitive content,” while similar Republican terms functioned normally. The company attributed this to a technical error, but the timing amid policy changes raised suspicions among critics of political favoritism.

Conservative Ban List Remains Active

Despite Meta’s public pivot toward free expression, many prominent conservative accounts remain banned from its platforms. Critics point to an alleged “hate agents” list, first exposed in 2019, that targeted conservative voices for removal. While Meta claims this list is no longer operational, figures like Laura Loomer report continued bans despite promises of reinstatement. This disconnect between Meta’s new free-speech rhetoric and ongoing conservative bans has fueled accusations of hypocrisy.

“Zuckerberg is full of shit, And so are all of the so-called ‘conservatives’ he brought on now that Trump is back. Facebook lied to me & said my account would be restored. I’m still banned.” – Laura Loomer in comments reported by Breitbart.

FTC Antitrust Case Looms Large

At the heart of Zuckerberg’s apparent political maneuvering is the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against Meta, which threatens to force the company to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg has reportedly made multiple visits to the White House to lobby President Trump for intervention in the case. Critics argue that these efforts expose Zuckerberg’s willingness to adopt conservative-friendly policies for business interests, despite his history of supporting progressive causes.

“Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions — billions — of dollars supporting open borders, ‘criminal justice reform’ (think – George Floyd riots) and election-fixing for Democrats and now he wants favors from the Trump administration.” – Natalie Winters in statements to Breitbart.

The tensions between Meta and conservative voices date back to the period after January 6, 2021, when Trump’s accounts were banned following the Capitol events. While Trump’s accounts have been reinstated and Zuckerberg has made gestures of reconciliation, including donations to Trump’s inauguration, many conservative commentators remain skeptical of Meta’s commitment to truly balanced content policies. As the company navigates regulatory challenges, its handling of political content will continue to face intense scrutiny from both sides of the political spectrum.