Last week, Meta was embroiled in controversy over internal changes enacted by its CEO. The company severely altered its social media moderation policies, including the handling of anti-LGBTQ speech. Now, Mark Zuckerberg went on the Joe Rogan podcast, where he defended Meta’s new policies and gave his views on other topics in a three-hour interview.
Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan addresses changes in Meta’s moderation policies
One of the biggest recent changes to Meta’s social media is the removal of independent fact-checkers. These were organizations that determined whether a piece of information was “reliable” or “misinformation” according to their parameters. The company will replace them with a system similar to the Community Notes instituted by the Musk administration at X. This tech relies on votes from the community with different lines of thought to make corrections or add additional context to a post. Zuckerberg had previously said that fact-checkers could be politically biased.
Another important change is the increase in the thresholds of automated content filters. This means that moderation bots will now be more permissive. This will reduce the instances of “good” posts being wrongly penalized. Zuckerberg believes the current threshold was too strict.
Meta’s CEO wants his social platforms to offer true free expression. “The whole point of social media is basically giving people the ability to share what they want. It goes back to our original mission to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” he said.
Meta’s changes come a week before Donald Trump is sworn in as the new president-elect of the United States. However, although the timing may suggest it, the CEO of the firm claims that it has nothing to do with the decision. As for Trump, Zuckerberg sees his upcoming presidential term with optimism. He says Trump “just wants America to win.” The new administration could be more proactive in defending American companies against the “regulatory fury” of the EU.
Zuckerberg denounces pressure to apply ideological censorship
Previously, Zuckerberg revealed that previous administrations pressured him to censor certain conservative-leaning speech on his social platforms. “We just got to this point where there were things you just couldn’t say [on our platforms] which were mainstream discourse,” he said.
Zuckerberg mentions two specific moments when this happened: in the 2016 presidential election and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He acknowledges that Meta censored truthful information solely because it did not align with certain dominant discourses. For instance, Meta’s social platforms eliminated content about COVID vaccine side effects, labeling it as “misinformation,” despite the fact that it frequently contained accurate data.
The company’s new policies and the adoption of Community Notes aim to prevent similar situations. The system aligns more with Mark Zuckerberg’s current way of seeing things. If content needs a note, it is not removed but remains available with a correction—supported by sources and confirmation from the community.
Zuckerberg’s view on the current American social situation
Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan touched on topics beyond Meta. The CEO of the firm also shared his point of view on the current political-social situation in the United States. He says that people now trust official discourse much less. This has led to the growth of alternative platforms, such as Rogan’s podcast.
Zuckerberg also referred to the fact that current American society is losing the role of masculinity, which he considers necessary. He mostly talks about corporations whose policies make America “emasculated” and “neutered.” Another thing that the CEO of Meta regrets is having given in too much to the media in the last decade.
How permissive will moderation be on Meta’s social platforms now?
Going back to the subject of Meta’s new moderation rules, Zuckerberg gives an example of how they will act now. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, advocates the idea that women should not serve in combat roles. The “new” Meta will not penalize anyone for expressing that idea, while the “old one” would have.
Last week, UFC boss Dana White was elected to Meta’s board with Zuckerberg’s support. Analysts saw it as another move to curry favor with the upcoming Trump administration. However, Meta’s CEO revealed the real reason for the decision. “We have a lot of governments and folks around the world putting a lot of pressure on our company and we need some strong people who are going to advise us on how to handle these situations,” said Zuckerberg.
You can watch the full interview below.
