Breakingviews: Fact-check – Meta fights for money, not speech

Mark Zuckerberg is more interested in the bottom line than the First Amendment. The Meta Platforms boss touted “free expression” as the motivating factor for reversing the company’s policy about moderating posts on Facebook and Instagram and allowing users to monitor themselves instead. Left unsaid was how the decision coincides with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and that TikTok advertisers hang in the balance.

Meta’s CEO said on Tuesday that his social media apps would embrace the policy used by Elon Musk’s X, where so-called community members flag contentious or erroneous material. Not all information will go unfiltered, however. Zuckerberg explained that overzealous policing led Facebook and Instagram to censor too much and left it “out of touch” on mainstream discourse over immigration, gender identity and other hot-button political issues.

The new approach does a few things. Republicans and Democrats in Congress had been united on trying to recalibrate a decades-old law that protects platform operators against liability for what people say on them. Trump and his supporters claim the sites were silencing conservative voices under the legislation’s veil. Booting Trump off Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021, congressional riots fueled the perception.

In effect, Zuckerberg is sending the message that Meta’s apps are hospitable places for MAGA Republicans, conspiracy theorists and fringe perspectives. Trump even endorsed the $1.5 trillion company’s policy on Tuesday.

There’s a tradeoff, with Zuckerberg acknowledging that “bad stuff” could filter through. Longer term, there’s a risk that it deters more users. Even then, however, it’s probably a small price to pay.

Of the $1 trillion spent on advertising worldwide, according to GroupM, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and TikTok combined account for about half. ByteDance-owned TikTok goes before the Supreme Court on Friday to try and avoid being banned in the United States, with an estimated $20 billion of revenue potentially up for grabs. Meta also tends to attract companies seeking clicks and purchases rather than ones building and promoting brands such as AT&T or Nestle, which care more about what surrounds their ads. Fewer restrictions may lead to higher returns on investment.

Meanwhile, placating Trump is important as a new trustbusting regime comes into force. Meta is among the technology goliaths embroiled in legal battles with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. Zuckerberg’s claim of championing speech clearly warrants fact-checking.