President Joe Biden on Friday criticized Meta’s decision to end its fact-checking program, calling it “truly shameful.”
While answering questions from reporters after comments about the economy, Biden said the move would allow millions of people to read “things that just aren’t true.”
“It is completely contrary to everything the United States stands for. We want to tell the truth. We haven’t always done it as a nation. “We want to tell the truth,” Biden said.
“The idea that, you know, a billionaire can buy something and say, ‘By the way, we’re not going to verify anything,’ and you know, you have millions of people reading, connecting, reading this stuff.” continuous. “Anyway, I think it’s really embarrassing.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Biden’s comments come after California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has faced criticism from conservatives for his actions before and after wildfires broke out in much of Los Angeles, argued that there has not been enough suppression against misinformation around the fires.
“I ask you: we have to deal with this misinformation. There are gale force winds of misinformation and disinformation. Lies. People want to divide this country and we’re going to have to address that too,” Newsom told Biden on Friday during a briefing on the fires.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that the company’s social media platforms would end its fact-checking program and replace it with a user-driven system similar to X’s “Community Notes.” He also announced that Facebook and Instagram would relax rules related to political content.
Zuckerberg said during an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Friday that Biden administration officials had reprimanded Facebook staff when they asked to remove content from the platform.
“Basically, these people from the Biden administration were calling our team and yelling at them and cursing at them,” Zuckerberg said. “We got to this point where we were like, ‘No, we’re not going to, we’re not going to tear down things that are true.’ That’s ridiculous.’”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zuckerberg’s comments.
In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan last year, Zuckerberg said the White House “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to remove posts about Covid-19, “including humor and satire.”
“I think the government’s pressure was wrong and I regret that we have not been more frank about it,” wrote Meta’s executive director. “I also think we made some decisions that, in hindsight and with new information, we wouldn’t make today.”
Meta announced that he had donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund after Zuckerberg met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence after the election.
