Meta is the parent company of two of the most widely used social media platforms in the world; Instagram and Facebook. On these platforms, millions of people interact, learn and consume information every day.
Rather than enforcing silence, Meta should protect free speech and the free spread of information. Its decision to end biased fact-checking has promising potential.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said in the 1927 case Whitney v. California, “If there be a time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, online platforms became known for pervasive fact-checking and even censorship. Conservatives in particular felt as though their viewpoints were being especially discriminated against.
Meta was pressured by the Biden administration to silence certain viewpoints by taking down posts and suspending accounts, especially when it came to vaccines— a move the states of Missouri and Louisiana considered a violation of the First Amendment although the Supreme Court ultimately disagreed.
In an early January press release, Meta acknowledged that there was “too much content being fact-checked" that was actually civil discourse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized these points in a video accompanying the press release, saying how social media censorship had gone too far and that the Biden administration was wrong to pressure the company.
Ending the overabundance of fact-checking is a significant step in the right direction for freedom of speech and expression on social media. Meta is following in the footsteps of X, who ditched fact-checking for a system of community notes, where users can submit suggestions for additional context on posts that may be misleading.
Community notes on X have been a more speech-friendly system than third-party fact-checking and censorship. Meta announced they are adopting a similar system for their platforms.
According to an Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab Survey, 72% of college students said they rely on social media as one of their top three sources for news. Being such a popular public forum, regulations on speech harm the pursuit of what is true and exchange of ideas. Free speech is essential for the spread of information.
As Meta said in its press release, social media companies should not be the “arbiters of truth.” It is each individual’s job to decide what to believe, hopefully alongside a community where political discourse flourishes.
It is also not the government’s job to determine what is true and our Founding Fathers knew that when they wrote the First Amendment. Zuckerberg said Biden Administration officials would “scream” and “curse” at his team when asking Meta to censor or fact-check certain information— actions that teeter on the line of violating the First Amendment.
The government cannot be trusted to decide what is true and it is not the government’s job to censor information online. Meta rolling back their censorship reflects this and is beneficial for free speech.
Freedom of thought and expression is under legitimate attack around the globe and Zuckerberg stated he wishes to work with the US government to defend it. In Great Britain, a police commissioner suggested Britain would attempt to punish the online speech of people outside of the country (such as Americans), citizens are being arrested and punished for inflammatory statements and some even convicted for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.
Canada and Ireland are other Western nations where expression is at risk— not to mention rampant oppression of thought, the press and religion in authoritarian countries like China, Iran and other middle eastern nations, Northern African nations and Russia. The Internet is a vital forum for the free spread of information and protest against oppression in these nations, and pro-speech actions of companies like Meta help people across the globe.
After a period of biased political censorship and arbitration of truth online, Meta is choosing the side of liberty for its users. Americans should be grateful for the speech we do have and continue to fight for freedom of expression. Without a free market of ideas and a voice for truth, the fundamental way to oppose evil, oppression and false information is lost. Remember: the answer to misinformation and repugnant speech is greater speech.