Corporations are reactionary creatures.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, was perhaps once a maverick.
Now hes a steward, trying to keep his head above water as the culture shifts around him.
Social media giant Meta on January 7, 2025, slashed its content moderation policies, including ending its US fact-checking program, in a major shift that conforms with the priorities of incoming president Donald Trump.© Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP) (Photo by DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images
Facebooks content cops will trade In & Out for Whataburger.
The announcement was part of a large media blitz on Tuesday morning.
To hear Zuckerberg tell it, the company is looking to its past to shape the future.
Its looking to retvrn if you will.
Facebook and Instagram have been on the decline for years.
AI profiles forpeople who dont existtell stories about lives that arent real.
But dont worry about these twisted incentives that created an era of AI slop.
Dont worry about the systemic issues with a rotting platform.
You see, comedy will soon be legal again on Facebook.
If you posted the wrong thing, youd end up in Facebook Jail or Get Zucked.
What was and wasnt off limits wasnt clear and often felt arbitrary.
Then theyd post a screenshot from a horror movie and land a 30-day ban.
You never knew what the rules were.
Zuckerberg didnt mince words, he blamed the medias reaction to the 2016 election for Metas censorship era.
People did, in fact, lose their minds after Trumps first election.
A lot of them blamed Facebook specifically.
We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth.
And its gone too far.
Meta has signaled in other ways in recent days that its shifting with the political headwinds.
Last week, Metaousted Nick Cleggas its head of global policy and replaced him with Joel Kaplan.
Kaplan is a Republican operative and former advisor to George W. Bush.
If you might say it on TV.
If you might say it on the floor of Congress.
You certainly oughta be able to say it on Facebook and Instagram without fear of censorship, Kaplan said.
Both Zuckerberg and Kaplan were clear that all this was happening because of Trump.
Theres no question that theres been a change over the last four years.
And weve got a real opportunity now.
Weve got a new administration with a new president coming in who are big defenders of free expression.
And that makes a difference.
And so Zuckerberg is moving his content moderators from California to Texas.
They both have enormous tech hubs that have shaped how business is done in the country and the world.
Theyre both dominated by massive urban centers surrounded by sprawling suburbs and vast agricultural infrastructure.
Theyre both places where moneynot politicians, not reallyhas the ultimate say.
But it wont slow down the AI slop.
It wont make the site a better purveyor of truth or a bastion of free speech.
But hey, at least comedy will be legal on Facebook again.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
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Meta is being very transparent on accident.
Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, too.
