Fact-checking: The end of the censorship era

"Restoring freedom of expression." This was one of the most forceful phrases uttered by Mark Zuckerberg when he confirmed, via video, that Meta, the company he co-founded, chairs and directs, is eliminating its fact-checking program to establish a system similar to the one used by Elon Musk on X. The disappearance of this tool, which monitors all the information that is published on the platform, represents a firm blow to those who want to control the news and free speech. That is, to censor.

Zuckerberg himself pointed directly to leaders around the world and the media as being the main culprits of censorship, not respecting freedom of speech to tip the balance, regardless of the issue, toward the side that interests them. "A lot has happened over the last several years. There has been widespread debate about potential harms from online content. Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more," he said.

Zuckerberg is not without reason when it comes to holding leaders and journalists responsible for encouraging and enforcing this silencing of free speech. For years, cases have occurred where content has been hidden or manipulated on the social networks under the Meta Platforms umbrella or other companies in the sector due to political interests.

Some of these cases were censored due to political pressure, including from the Biden administration for its own benefit, as evidenced by Representative Jim Jordan in Congress with the publication of the so-called "Facebook Files." Examples are stories surrounding Hunter Biden's computer and the COVID-19 vaccines. Other topics that were victims of censorship have been international conflicts and the last presidential election, including Donald Trump. Joe Biden, on the other hand, was the beneficiary of censorship to improve his image. Other personalities such as Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were negatively affected. Even VOZ was censored on YouTube, Instagram and X (when it was known as Twitter) for telling the truth.

A new step to end the 'censorship cartel'

Zuckerberg's decision to eliminate his fact-checking program on Meta Platforms and seek to end bias surrounding what gets filtered out on social media is interpreted as a new move to end the "censorship cartel," as defined by Republicans.

This decision by the tech mogul goes hand in hand with Trump's promise to eliminate any initiative organized by political parties and their establishment to censor their opponents' speech, whether or not through fact-checkers. "The censorship cartel must be dismantled," said Brendan Carr, Trump's appointee as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Zuckerberg: From censoring Trump and receiving pressure from Democrats to backing the Republican narrative

It is no coincidence that one of Trump's main targets is to fight censorship, including on social media, after having been the most highly affected party during the whole electoral process, just like in the 2020 election, as the Republican has always maintained.

Zuckerberg, following the altercations on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, made the decision to suspend Trump's accounts on all of Meta Platforms' social networks, motivated by the alleged responsibility that the now-president-elect had. Despite desperate pleas from the Democratic Party, more than two years later, with an "I'm back," Trump confirmed his return to Facebook.

That was the first step in trying to repair fractured relations. Since then, Zuckerberg has acknowledged how he has received pressure to censor Trump or cover up causes that harmed the Democrats. That cooling of tensions concluded with a dinner at Mar-a-Lago and with the tech mogul donating $1 million to Trump's presidential inauguration fund.

Google next to speak out?

Meta Platforms can't claim to be the first tech company to stand up to censorship. Previously, X did it. As soon as Elon Musk bought the social network, in addition to renaming it, he decided to "free the bird" and eliminate all fact-checkers that lurked on the platform.

Aside from these two companies, another tech giant that has been in the spotlight for allowing fact-checkers to apply censorship is Google. The world's most popular search engine has made it easier for the Biden administration to block or eliminate content not in line with its interests or censor stories such as the assassination attempt suffered by Trump in Pennsylvania. These tactics were pointed out by Musk more than two years ago.

The Republican Party has already called on Google to take the same path as X and Meta Platforms. Jordan, who praised Zuckerberg, asked the tech giant to "follow suit."