‘We are entering dangerous territory…’ Meta employees express concern over new fact-checking move

Meta

With Donald Trump set to take over as the president of the United States, Meta is cosying up to the new administration. First, the company added Dana White, UFC CEO and long-time friend of Trump to its board of directors. Second, Meta ended its third-party fact checking program and replaced it with the Community Notes model. According to a report by CNBC, Meta employees aren’t really happy with the direction the company seems to be going in.

On its internal message boards, as per the report, an employee said that they were “extremely concerned” and that the company is seeing a message to “people that facts no longer matter, and conflating that with a victory for free speech.”

Some employees are concerned that the new rules could have a grave impact on the discourse around topics like immigration, gender and could bring a wave of “racist and transphobic content.”

Another employee said that “we’re entering into really dangerous territory by paving the way for the further spread of misinformation.”

Employees also expressed concern — and even made jokes — about White’s appointment to the board of directors. They jokingly wondered if performance reviews could see mixed martial arts-style fights, in reference to White’s background as CEO of UFC.

Meta employees have raised concerns about White joining the board of directors, citing potential political alliances that could prove strategically valuable but might also risk altering the company’s culture in unintended or undesirable ways.