smartcybers786@gmail.com 
Donald Trump takes the stage to deliver remarks on education as he holds a campaign rally with supporters, in Davenport, Iowa, US, March 13, 2023. — Reuters
#Red #carpet #rolled #Trump #big #tech
WASHINGTON: With Facebook announcing it will end its US fact-checking program in the latest victory for Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, tech leaders are rallying around the president-elect. .
Meta’s move to fact-checking came after Trump’s shock election in 2016, which critics said was enabled by rampant misinformation on Facebook and interference on the platform by foreign actors, including Russia. .
He was long criticized by conservatives who found themselves implicated in his anti-information work.
It comes just days before Trump’s inauguration, and several US tech barons have called for a cozy relationship with the incoming president.
Since the November election, a series of senior moguls have visited Trump at his Florida home, including Zuckerberg as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon founder and space-tech executive Jeff Bezos. are
Both Amazon and Meta have announced $1 million in donations to Trump’s inaugural fund, as Apple’s Cook reportedly has in a personal capacity.
Musk, meanwhile, the owner of the influential social media platform X and the world’s richest man, is one of the president-elect’s closest advisers.
It’s all a far cry after Republicans found themselves kicked off Facebook and Twitter for threatening to incite violence, after supporters stormed the US Capitol hoping to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Four years later, tech companies are coming out of a Biden administration that has rocked much of the sector with antitrust investigations — along with free speech, the unruliness of those with fresh appeal in Trump’s orbit. The approach was carried forward.
The change to fact-checking “is a decision that furthers Zuckerberg’s business goals: fact-checking is difficult, expensive and controversial,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a public policy professor who recently wrote about algorithmic policies at Meta. filed a lawsuit, told AFP.
But for those in the right-wing tech sector, the decision is a course correction.
“For those of us who have been fighting for free speech for years, this feels like a major victory and a turning point,” said David Sachs, an investor poised to take on the artificial intelligence portfolio in the Trump administration.
He thanked the incoming president “for this political and cultural change.”
A result of ‘probably’ threats
Trump has been a vocal critic of Meta and Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him and threatening retaliation if he returns to office.
When asked by reporters if he thought the fact-checking move was a response to his threats against Zuckerberg, Trump replied: “Probably, yes.”
The rapprochement between Zuckerberg and Trump has been long-standing: Metta also recently put Trump ally Dana White on its board.
The decision, and the move to curtail fact-checking operations, comes after Trump’s Federal Communications Commission pick, Brandon Carr, accused Facebook, Google and Apple of “playing central roles” in a “censorship cartel.” put
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, meanwhile, has signaled the incoming administration, telling conservative broadcaster Fox News in December that he believes Trump will make the United States a major player in the field of artificial intelligence. .
His response to Musk’s influence in the incoming administration — which has sparked warnings of a conflict of interest — was also lukewarm.
“It would be deeply un-American to use political power to harm our competitors and benefit our businesses,” Altman said, adding, “I’m confident Elon will do the right thing.”
Musk signals approval.
Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller isn’t surprised that social media companies like Meta are moving away from fact-checking because political parties and social media companies thrive when they’re divided.
However, he added that “the saving grace may be that there are still a number of competing social media outlets so that no one person or company controls the flow of all information, and that includes the government.”
Facebook will replace its fact-checking program with a “Community Notes” style feature, similar to what is used on Musk’s X platform.
Musk quickly signaled his approval, calling the change “cool.”
AFP currently works with Facebook’s fact-checking program in 26 languages, in which Facebook pays for fact-checking from around 80 organizations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and Instagram.
