Meta abandoning the use of independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram

Mateusz Stalinski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, says, "Meta's decision to reduce the amount of content moderation across their platforms does not come as a surprise. With X increasingly branding itself as leader in promoting largely unrestrained freedom of expression on social media, Meta has faced competitive pressure to take action.

"Social media platforms have a track record of responding to each other's policy changes. Following Twitter's ban on political advertisement in 2019 (Elon Musk reinstated them in 2023), Facebook swiftly took action to introduce a tool that allowed its users to opt out of political ads during the 2020 election campaign. While Meta's recent announcement to reduce censorship is partially forced by policies of its competitors, it also directly benefits the platform itself.

"Research conducted by researchers from the University of Warwick, Bocconi University, and Columbia University shows that exposure to toxic content on social media increases user engagement, which can improve platforms' advertising revenue. From this angle, the increased external pressure to protect the freedom of expression is a welcome excuse to forward business goals without being explicit about it."