Mark Zuckerberg fully embraces the “Trumpist” era. The boss of the most powerful social media group in the world, Meta, announced Tuesday January 7 a 180° turnaround in moderation policy from the group including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. No more fact-checking of publications, until now carried out by journalists in order to fight against disinformation. Make way for the more biased “community notes”, inspired by the sulfurous X, owned by Elon Musk. More broadly, the founder of Facebook intends to unblock his platforms by leaving more room for political content. “The goal is to return to our roots: freedom of expression,” he said. A maximalist freedom, with deliberately vague limits. The information site Wired found that it was now possible for users, according to the new rules put in place, “to accuse transgender or homosexual people of being mentally ill because of their gender expression and sexual orientation”.
If Meta’s moderation changes, and in particular the end of fact-checking, should initially only concern the United States, Mark Zuckerberg’s message also sounds like a declaration of war against the 27, which have made content moderation on major platforms is a priority issue. In his video message published Tuesday, the former Harvard student also accused the European Union of having “institutionalized[é] censorship”, preventing him from “innovating”. According to the media ContextMeta has already sent an initial risk analysis to the Commission in order to prepare them for stopping fact-checking in the near future.
The EU is retreating
Some will rightly point out that relations were already strained between the two parties. Meta has long been reluctant to apply the regulations adopted by the Old Continent, starting with the GDPR, implemented since 2018. In order to circumvent the compulsory consent of Internet users to targeted advertising, Facebook and Instagram have offered paid subscriptions. Illegal, according to European lawmakers, who are still waiting for Meta to come up with viable solutions. Among the (numerous) disputes, Meta is also the subject of a formal procedure concerning the protection of minors on its social networks, within the framework of the Digital Services Act (DSA). “We suspect that Meta’s moderation is insufficient and that it lacks transparency regarding advertisements and content moderation procedures,” Margrethe Vestager, former Commission vice-president responsible for competition, said last spring.
It would be naive to believe that Meta will now work to resolve these issues. On the one hand, because the firm does not go to war alone. Elon Musk, with X, does not hide his contempt for the EU and its digital regulations. To varying degrees, powerful companies like Apple, Amazon and Google are also critical of the various laws promulgated by Europe in recent years on AI and even competition.
These multinationals can now rely on a president who is more hostile to the Old Continent. A Donald Trump inclined to impose prohibitive customs duties on anyone who stands in his way. The billionaire is ready for any madness, floating the idea of annexing Greenland or absorbing Canada. No one knows where their limits are. Big Tech, and in particular Zuckerberg, who was believed to be on the path to “redemption” at the start of the year, intend to take advantage of the fear inspired by the Republican. A cynical calculation, but one that is already bearing fruit. Europe is in retreat. According to information from Worldthe President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has reportedly decided to pause investigations against American Big Tech. Postponing indefinitely possible financial sanctions, or even market access bans, against these giants.