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After Meta announced an overhaul of how it handles its fact-checking, the CEO of the open source social networking service Mastodon has called the new approach “deeply troubling.”
Eugen Rochko, CEO and creator of the platform that competes with Meta and X, stated the new move “should be a concern to anyone with a conscience.”
Meta has this week said they will be replacing fact-checkers with user-driven notes which is similar to what is seen with Elon Musk’s X’s Community Notes feature.
Mark Zuckerberg described the fact-checkers as being “politically biased,” with the idea that a crowdsourced fund-checking initiative across its platforms aims to be more neutral.
The technology giant owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with the new approach having already faced controversy as people weigh in with their opinions.
Mastodon CEO urges people to reconsider their alignment with Meta
Shortly after the news, the Mastodon CEO posted his thoughts: “The moderation policy changes at Meta are deeply troubling and should be a concern to anyone with a conscience.
“While the fediverse is a decentralized platform where different service providers have different moderation policies, at mastodon.social, hate speech is prohibited, and we will take action on any Threads account found violating our policies.
“I would strongly urge anyone with a Threads account to reconsider their alignment with the new direction at Meta and move to Mastodon instead.”
This change-up by Meta comes ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20. It’s believed that his second term serving as the President of the United States could bring some significant changes in the world of technology.
Zuckerberg is reported to have recently donated $1 million to the inauguration and he has been spotted at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Another change from Meta includes adding Dana White, who is a known Trump ally and head of combat sport UFC, to the board of directors.
Featured Image: Screenshot from Zuckerberg video in Meta announcement
