You went down a rabbit hole and now gardening (or hot rod or political) posts are all you see online. Algorithms are smart, but they don’t know when you’re ready to get back to your regularly scheduled programming. 

It’s time to reset your feed and take control of what you see.

Win an iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence ($999 value). 

No purchase necessary. Enter to win now!

5-MINUTE CLEANUP FOR YOUR PHONE AND COMPUTER

Start with Facebook

Goodbye, annoying ads. It only takes a minute to kick out the things you no longer want to see.

The fix: Filter your advertising topics by going to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Account Center > Ad Preferences > Customize ads.

Random Facebook requests can end badly. This one lost a widow $40K.

Now, on to YouTube

Say your family is staying with you for the holidays and your niece is watching cartoons on your YouTube account all day long. Now that’s all YouTube recommends. Delete your search history to get things back to normal. 

The fix: On the YouTube app, tap You to bring up your History. Tap the cog icon > Settings > Manage All History. At the bottom, you’ll see DELETE with a blue down arrow. Tap from the dropdown menu to delete videos from today, a custom range or all time. Click X to remove items individually, if you prefer.

10 TECH UPGRADES TO SAVE YOUR TIME, PRIVACY AND MONEY THIS YEAR

Going forward, turn off your viewing history any time you don’t want those vids in your algorithm. You can set your video and search histories to autodelete, too. Now your YouTube is back to how you like it, with my video podcast at the very top. You’ll love it!

TikTok tracks your habits 

TikTok’s algorithm is built to keep you on the app. Every time you like, follow or comment on something, it tells the algorithm you’re interested in a video, and more videos like it will pop up on your For You page. Disliking a video or writing a nasty comment doesn’t matter, by the way; you still kept watching.

The fix: Reset your feed. Open your Profile in the bottom right corner then press the three lines at the top right > Settings and Privacy > Content Preferences > Refresh Your For You Feed > Continue. 

Fine-tune Instagram 

Watch Instagram Reels instead? There’s no way to reset them, but you can nudge the algorithm in the right direction.

The fix: Tap the three dots in the upper right corner. From here, you can adjust:

I’M A TECH EXPERT: 10 AI PROMPTS YOU’LL USE ALL THE TIME

Here’s the giveaway that an email from Instagram about your security is fake.

Most apps have this option

On just about every social platform, you can hide or see less of certain things. The more you take this action, the more you steer the algorithm.

The fix: Next to a post, video or anything else, look for the three-dot or three-line menu that opens more options. On YouTube, for example, tap the three dots next to a video and choose Don’t recommend channel or Not interested.

Feeling inspired to clean more of your digital traces? Wipe your browser history while you’re at it. Here’s how.

Final piece of advice

Your social media feed is carefully curated based on who you follow, who follows you and, most importantly, what you do online. Sure, you can reset your algorithm, but don’t be fooled. Every post you linger on, like, comment on or share gets tracked and used to shape what you see next. Even just scrolling tells the platform what grabs your attention. 

Before your next deep dive, remember: Big Tech is always watching, and your every move fine-tunes what pops up next.

Get tech-smarter on your schedule

Award-winning host Kim Komando is your secret weapon for navigating tech.

Copyright 2025, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved. 

The chances of your Instagram, X, Facebook, Amazon, Threads, Rumble, Twitch or other accounts getting taken over by spammy bots and data-stealing thieves have never been higher. So, don’t sit there all smug, thinking, "Oh, Kim, that could never happen to me!"

Freebie alert: I’m giving away my latest ebook, "50 Smart Ways to Use AI" (a $9.95 value). Hope it helps you!

A lot of the advice you find online about hacked social media sites and profiles is just plain wrong or, worse, leads to a scammer who promises to get your account back but really just steals your money. Keep reading for advice you can trust.

DON’T SCAM YOURSELF WITH THE TRICKS HACKERS DON’T WANT ME TO SHARE

Step 1: Sign out on every device

It’s alarming to think about someone else’s hands all over your social media account, posting crap on your page. Fully sign out of your account on every device you’re logged in.

Pro tip: Under the Settings section in every social app, you’ll see a list of all (or the most recent) devices signed in. On Facebook, for instance, just click your profile picture > Settings & privacy > Activity log > Where you’re logged in.

This step will often boot more casual hackers piggybacking on automatic sign-ins. They’ll get asked for passwords they don’t have and won’t be able to log in again, so they can’t spam your peeps. But don’t stop here!

Step 2: Change your password

Log into your account on one device and change your password. The account or settings page will have that option, like here on Instagram. If hackers did get your password (maybe from a massive data breach), this will lock them out.

You know the drill: Replace your old password with a strong one. Make it at least 12 characters with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Better yet, have a password manager come up with a great one for you.

THIS CRIME SHOT UP 400% — HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

Step 3: Report the hack

Now, hackers should be mostly locked out of your socials. Before you take a deep breath, though, report the hack. This way, your social media platform can help you roll back your hacked messages and freeze your account until you’re sure everything is safe.

Account hacking is so bad, some social media sites have dedicated pages to report the problem. Here’s Facebook’s hacked page, and, no surprise, there’s also an Instagram hacked page and X’s questionnaire.

Step 4: Check for surprise changes

No one likes cleaning the house, but it has to be done. Jump over to your account settings and check for any funny business, like:

I’M A TECH EXPERT: 10 AI PROMPTS YOU’LL USE ALL THE TIME

Step 5: One last thing

Phew, you’re almost done. Be sure to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your account. You can get a code via text, but it’s more secure to use an authenticator app. Steps here if you’re new to the 2FA game.

FYI, you can only get 2FA on X if you pay for its $8 monthly Premium service. Annoying.

If you run into any trouble with these steps …

… Or if a hacker got your account suspended, call the social media platform. Keep in mind these companies don’t care about you, so they really don’t want to help you. You’ll have to be persistent. Here’s a list of popular tech numbers. Do not search on Google for these phone numbers.

Reminder, get my newest ebook "50 Smart Ways to Use AI" free right now.

Get tech-smarter on your schedule

Award-winning host Kim Komando is your secret weapon for navigating tech.

Copyright 2025, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved.

President Trump has signed settlement papers that will require Mark Zuckerberg's Meta to pay roughly $25 million to resolve a 2021 lawsuit Trump filed after the company suspended his accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

The post Mark Zuckerberg’s MAGA Makeover Continues: Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle Donald Trump’s Lawsuit appeared first on Breitbart.

Some employees of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, are so discouraged by the removal of tampons from the men's bathroom that they are engaging in their own form of protest by bringing their own.

The post Meta Employees Protest Removal of Tampons from Men’s Bathroom by Bringing Their Own appeared first on Breitbart.

A man in West Palm Beach, Florida, is accused of making threats against President Trump via social media.

The post Police: Florida Man Who Threatened to Kill President Trump Caught with Cocaine appeared first on Breitbart.

Recent data from multiple analytics firms suggests that calls for a boycott of Meta's platforms have had little impact on user engagement, despite Mark Zuckerberg's decision to cut biased left-wing "fact checking" programs and the Silicon Valley giant's DEI initiatives.

The post Boycott Fail: Engagement Remains Steady for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Despite Leftist Outcry appeared first on Breitbart.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has responded to leftists claiming that Facebook and Instagram are forcing them to follow the accounts of Donald Trump, JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump. According to the company, these users are confused as the official White House accounts are transitioned to the new administration.

The post Living Rent Free in Their Heads: Leftists Claim Meta Forces Them to Follow Trump Administration Accounts appeared first on Breitbart.

On MSNBC on Monday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) argued that democracy is unraveling and one example was Facebook ending fact-checking and argued that people kill democracy by controlling the media and Democrats have “logistical work to do to make sure

The post Dem Sen. Murphy: Meta Not Fact-Checking ‘Unraveling’ Democracy by Media Control, Must Create Platforms ‘That Hear All Messages’ appeared first on Breitbart.

The most influential tech platforms have are attending President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration after donating millions of dollars to his inauguration committee.

The post Big Tech Titans Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Pichai Seated by Elon Musk at Trump Inauguration appeared first on Breitbart.

A New York Times profile on Stephen Miller and his rise to one of the most influential unelected officials in the Trump administration including a revealing glimpse into Mark Zuckerberg's attempt to build bridges to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

The post Passing the Buck: Mark Zuckerberg Blames Former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg for DEI Lunacy appeared first on Breitbart.

Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor who represented Meta in a 2023 AI copyright case, has dropped the company as a client due to what he calls CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "descent into toxic masculinity and Neo-Nazi madness."

The post Woke Meltdown: Lawyer Drops Meta as a Client Because of Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Descent into Toxic Masculinity’ appeared first on Breitbart.

A network of fact-checkers is set to lose a major source of revenue and may even close shop after Facebook parent company Meta announced it would terminate their contracts and move towards a system closer to X's Community Notes.

"We don't have much time left. At this rate, we are done in a few months," Check Your Fact managing editor, Jesse Stiller, told Fox News Digital.

"We were blindsided by this. This was totally unexpected and out of left field for us. We weren't aware this decision was being considered until Mark dropped the video overnight. We have no idea what the future looks like for the website going forward," he added.

On January 7, 2025, Meta revealed that it would end its fact-checking program and lift some content moderation policies to "restore free expression" across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

CEO OF LEFT-LEANING FACT-CHECKER SAYS GOVERNMENT AT FAULT FOR CENSORING HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, NOT FACT-CHECKERS

Prior to the announcement, Meta repeatedly stressed they were committed to supporting a long-term independent fact-checking industry to address "misinformation" online.

In an April 2022 blog post, Meta claimed it had built the "largest global fact-checking network of any platform" and contributed more than $100 million to fact-checking programs since 2016.

Meta did not reply when asked how much money it had given to third-party fact-checkers before announcing the end of the program in early January 2025.

According to the company's website, Meta began prioritizing "additional support and resources" for fact-checkers in early 2020 to combat health "misinformation."

As part of this initiative, Meta launched a $1 million emergency grant program in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to tackle information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

IFCN created the CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, in which nearly 100 fact-checking organizations in more than 70 countries produced over 11,000 fact-checks about COVID-19 across 40 languages. Seven fact-checking organization projects specifically focused on vaccine "misinformation."

META’S DECISION TO AX FACT-CHECKING SYSTEM, ADOPT MUSK-LIKE POLICY IS A BIG ‘WIN’ FOR FREE SPEECH: EXPERTS

In August, Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden White House had pressured Meta to censor some health information during the pandemic.

Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan in January that members of the Biden administration would "scream" and "curse" at his employees, demanding they take down information, especially during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Meta later gave the IFCN a $1 million "Climate Misinformation Grant." The grant, in part, provided funding to organizations working to combat "climate misinformation" and supported collaborative partnerships between fact-checkers and "climate experts."

The company also provided funding for fact-checkers to "increase their capacity to promote reliable information" ahead of the 2022 elections in various countries, including the U.S., Australia, France and India.

In the United States, Meta worked with the following third-party fact-checkers: AFP – Hub, Check Your Fact, Factcheck.org, Lead Stories, PolitiFact, Science Feedback, Reuters Fact Check, TelevisaUnivision, The Dispatch and USA Today.

All 10 of these partners are expected to lose their funding. It is unclear when or if Meta's changes will affect overseas fact-checkers.

INTERNET ROASTS NYT HEADLINE ABOUT FACT-CHECKERS RULING META CRITICISM OF FACT CHECKS 'FALSE:' 'BEYOND PARODY'

In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, claimed that these fact-checkers failed to remain neutral.

"We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers," Kaplan said. "It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check because, basically, they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform."

Since the pivot away from third-party fact-checking, several of these fact-checking organizations with financial ties to the tech conglomerate have issued statements critical of Zuckerberg and Meta's claims of political bias.

Previously, these groups were often paid for each published fact-check using Meta's platforms and tools.

For example, PolitiFact, according to its financial disclosures, earned over five percent of its 2024 revenue from the partnership.

PolitiFact told Fox News Digital that the organization, one of the original participants in Meta's third-party fact-checking program, will be affected by the company's decision to discontinue it.

META ISSUES SWEEPING CHANGES TO RESTORE FREE SPEECH ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM

They also pointed Fox News Digital to comments made by PolitiFact parent Poynter Institute President Neil Brown, who called Meta's decision a "disappointing cop-out" that "perpetuates a misunderstanding of its own program."

"Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers never censored anything. And Meta always held the cards. It's time to quit invoking inflammatory and false language in describing the role of journalists and fact-checking," Brown said.

Lead Stories, a Facebook fact-checker employing several former CNN alumni, told The New York Times that it is now doing a large chunk of its work for TikTok's parent company, Bytedance. Meta was previously the fact-checker's primary client.

The company was shocked by Zuckerberg's announcement, considering Lead Stories signed a new yearlong contract with Meta just three weeks ago. Lead Stories admitted that it would see a drop in revenue after severing ties with Meta—a reality that will result in a "staffing reduction," according to co-founder Alan Duke.

"Cutting fact-checkers from social platforms is like disbanding your fire department," he told CNN in early January.

META ISSUES SWEEPING CHANGES TO RESTORE FREE SPEECH ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kristin Roberts, the chief content officer of Gannet Media (USA Today's parent company), said, "Fact-based journalism is what USA Today does best."

"We are the nation's trusted news source because we provide unbiased and essential content for all people. Truth and facts serve everyone — not the right or the left — and that's what we will continue to deliver," she continued.

The company did not provide information on its financial relationship with Meta.

TelevisaUnivision, Lead Stories, Factcheck.org, AFP – Hub, The Dispatch and Science Feedback did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Reuters declined to comment.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's pivot towards free speech now creates competition between big tech over who can offer platforms allowing free and open expression.

The post Mark Zuckerberg’s Pivot Creates Competition for Free Speech Amongst Big Tech appeared first on Breitbart.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has implemented significant changes to its internal and external policies following the recent election, including the removal of tampons from men's bathrooms.

The post Zuckerberg Sanity Tour Continues: Meta Removes Tampons from Men’s Restrooms appeared first on Breitbart.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's past comments on censorship have resurfaced following his decision to end fact-checking on his U.S. platforms, revealing a storied timeline of seemingly contradictory positions that appeared to put him at odds with his company.

As controversy swirled over his refusal to fact-check political ads in 2019, Zuckerberg asserted that Facebook did not support censoring its users, citing his belief that people were entitled to "make their own decisions" based on the content put forth.

"I don't think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news," Zuckerberg said in a CBS interview at the time. 

META ENDS FACT-CHECKING PROGRAM AS ZUCKERBERG VOWS TO RESTORE FREE EXPRESSION ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM

"I generally believe that as a principle, people should decide what is credible, what they want to believe and who they want to vote for, and I don’t think that that should be something that we want tech companies, or any kind of other company [to] do," he said in a Fox News interview that same year.

He also gave a speech at Georgetown University in 2019, slamming China for throttling free speech on the internet. 

In 2020, Zuckerberg doubled down on his position, stating in a subsequent Fox News interview, "I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. Private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that."

TRUMP SAYS META HAS ‘COME A LONG WAY’ AFTER ZUCKERBERG ENDS FACT-CHECKING ON PLATFORMS

But just one month after that appearance, Zuckerberg's company Meta, then Facebook, announced it was expanding its U.S. fact-checking program, touting it at the time as "a key piece of our strategy to reduce the spread of misinformation" on the platform.

In the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021, Facebook banned then-President Trump from the social media site. The company didn't reinstate Trump's account until January 2023. 

In April 2024, Zuckerberg admitted in a letter that Facebook was pressured by the Biden-Harris administration to censor Americans regarding COVID-19 content. Zuckerberg said he didn't support the decision, despite owning up to it, and expressed remorse for caving to the pressure from Biden officials.

The tech mogul's prior comments were thrust back into the spotlight this week after he announced that Meta was lifting restrictions on speech to "restore free expression" across Facebook, Instagram and Meta platforms by ending its third-party fact-checking program, admitting that their content moderation practices have gone "too far."

Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was first implemented after the 2016 election and had been used to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to "political pressure," executives said.

At the time of Zuckerberg's announcement on Tuesday, ten prominent fact-checking organizations were working with the company to moderate political content in the U.S. 

FACEBOOK ADMITS 'MISTAKE' IN CENSORING ICONIC TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT PHOTO: 'THIS WAS AN ERROR'

Reuters, USA Today, The Dispatch, PolitiFact, Agence France-Presse U.S., Check Your Fact, Factcheck.org, Lead Stories, Science Feedback, and ElDetector Univision comprised the team of third-party fact-checking partners, Facebook confirmed to Fox News Digital.

They were told to prioritize "provably false claims, especially those that are timely, trending and consequential. They don’t prioritize claims that are inconsequential or contain only minor inaccuracies," according to a Meta 2024 press release.

Many of these organizations lamented Zuckerberg's decision to scrap their program on Tuesday, slamming his attempt to avoid online bias as misguided and sudden.

Lead Stories editor Maarten Schenk outlined his disappointment and disagreement with the move, stating that he was only informed of the ceased partnership through media reporting of Zuckerberg's decision to cut the program.

"Lead Stories was surprised and disappointed to first learn through media reports and a press release about the end of the Meta Third-Party Fact-Checking Partnership of which Lead Stories has been a part since 2019," he wrote on Tuesday.

The Facebook fact-checker, who employs several former CNN alumni including Alan Duke and Ed Payne, has become one of the more prominent fact checkers used by Facebook in recent years. 

PolitiFact similarly derided the move, which ended their eight-year partnership with Meta, stating that Meta first hired them "to identify false information and hoaxes on its platforms."

Neil Brown, president of the Poynter Institute, the journalism nonprofit that owns PolitiFact, called Zuckerberg's statement "disappointing." 

"It perpetuates a misunderstanding of its own program," Brown said of Zuckerberg’s statement. "Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers never censored anything. And Meta always held the cards. It's time to quit invoking inflammatory and false language in describing the role of journalists and fact-checking." 

AFP, a global news agency based in Paris, said they also learned Zuckerberg was scrapping the program at the same time as the public.

"It's a hard hit for the fact-checking community and journalism. We're assessing the situation," they told Reuters.

Zuckerberg's decision was widely celebrated by conservatives, who've grown frustrated with fact-checkers after a number of dubious practices sparked outrage from media critics and right-leaning online users. In recent years, some have charged fact-checking websites with acting as shields for the Democratic Party, with partisan intentions. 

‘BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS:’ A LOOK AT MARK ZUCKERBERG'S TENSE MOMENTS IN CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

Conservative KTTH radio host Jason Rantz once called PolitiFact "Democratic Party activists who have chosen to weaponize what should be truly objective analysis" after the organization published several highly contested fact-checks against Republicans. 

Rantz, at the time, said the organization was one of the most "transparently partisan" websites available, often used by left-wing media to amplify political propaganda. 

When asked about the 2022 accusation, PolitFact’s managing editor Katie Sanders stated that the fact-checking website stood by its reporting. 

President-elect Donald Trump has frequently complained about fact-checkers, often griping about the people behind the moderation practice throughout the 2024 campaign. He celebrated Zuckerberg's decision to end Meta's third-party fact-checking on Tuesday, telling Fox News Digital that the company has "come a long way." 

Prior to Tuesday's announcement, Meta repeatedly touted its third-party fact-checking initiative as an effective system to "reduce the spread of misinformation and provide more reliable information to users."

All of the organizations, they said, were bound to the Code of Principles drafted by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which includes qualities such as "nonpartisanship, fairness, transparency of sources, transparency of funding and organization and an open and honest corrections' policy."

Meta's webpage promoting the program remains active as of Wednesday, despite Zuckerberg blaming the organizations involved for taking their moderation practices "too far." 

In the video announcing the end of the program, Zuckerberg pledged to "get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms."

Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, praised the move as a "great opportunity for us to set the balance in favor of free expression" on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday.

"We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers," he later told Fox News Digital. "It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check because, basically, they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform." 

"We want to make sure that discourse can happen freely on the platform without fear of censorship," Kaplan added. "We have the power to change the rules and make them more supportive of free expression. And we’re not just changing the rules, we are actually changing how we enforce the rules."

Kaplan said Meta is "ending that completely" and will replace it with a "Community Notes" model similar to the one used on X, formerly Twitter.

Meta's global fact-checking program will seemingly continue to run uninterrupted. The company did not respond when questioned about the future of the global program by Fox News Digital.

Experts and journalists hope Meta will continue to move toward free speech and avoid the content moderation policies that plagued Facebook under the Biden administration.

"Meta has a terrible history of censorship in the Biden era. They took direction from the government to censor COVID-19 content; they shut down the sharing of the New York Post Hunter Biden story; they used fact-checkers who accepted the word of the administration as fact and not opinion," New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz told Fox News Digital.

She said that while being "wary" of Meta's past mistakes is important, people should cheer the company's admission that they have "done bad things and would like to be better."

"I hope Zuckerberg has seen the light and will continue to move Facebook in the direction of free speech," Markowicz, who co-hosts Normally on iHeartRadio, said of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "It's also important to remember that there are companies, like Rumble or Telegram and then X/Twitter once Elon Musk bought it, that were doing the right thing even when it was difficult with a hostile Biden administration in place. Those companies should be celebrated."

META’S DECISION TO AX FACT-CHECKING SYSTEM, ADOPT MUSK-LIKE POLICY IS A BIG ‘WIN’ FOR FREE SPEECH: EXPERTS

Meta's third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, primarily due to "political pressure," executives said, but admitted the system has "gone too far."

An April study from the conservative Media Research Center claimed that Facebook had "interfered" in U.S. elections dozens of times over the last several cycles.

The study said Facebook has "censored" 2024 presidential candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and 2022 Senate and congressional candidates. In 2021, Facebook "deleted Virginia gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase's account," and it "cranked up its censorship apparatus with special focus on Donald Trump" and "shuttered political advertising one week before the election" in 2020.

"It also artificially elevated liberal news in its Trending News section while blacklisting popular conservatives like Ted Cruz," the MRC wrote.

In August 2018, Facebook came under fire after the platform deleted a plethora of videos from the conservative nonprofit, PragerU. The company later reversed the decision, admitting that the content was falsely reported as "hate speech."

JONATHAN TURLEY: META'S ZUCKERBERG MAKES A FREE SPEECH MOVE THAT COULD BE TRULY TRANSFORMATIONAL

Republicans later claimed that Zuckerberg made false statements to Congress in April 2018, when the tech billionaire denied accusations that Facebook had engaged in bias against conservative accounts and content.

Like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram faced backlash leading up to the 2020 election after the company throttled access to the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story.  

Zuckerberg later told podcast host Joe Rogan that he had decided to censor the New York Post story after the FBI warned him about "a potential Russian disinformation operation" regarding the Biden family and Burisma.

"It's since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn't have demoted the story," Zuckerberg wrote. "We've changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn't happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers," he said.

Last year, the Meta CEO sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee in which he admitted that he felt pressure from the Biden administration, particularly with regard to COVID content, and even items like satire and humor.

CONSERVATIVES REJOICE OVER 'JAW DROPPING' META CENSORSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT: 'HUGE WIN FOR FREE SPEECH'

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Zuckerberg told CBS anchor Gayle King that his platform had removed 18 million posts containing "misinformation" about the virus.

In 2022, several state attorneys general compiled evidence alleging that Zuckerberg coordinated with former National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Anthony Fauci to "discredit and suppress" the theory that the COVID-19 virus may have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.

Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that Meta would end its fact-checking program and lift content moderation policies to "restore free expression" across Facebook, Instagram and Meta platforms.

Fact-checking organizations that had their contracts terminated by Meta said they were disappointed by the news and scoffed at accusations of bias. They also redirected the blame back at Meta, suggesting that the company's policies that limit the exposure of flagged content were the real catalyst behind the tech corporation's censorship.

Experts who spoke with Fox News Digital acknowledged Meta's culpability in suppressing information but criticized fact-checkers for tailoring their ratings to personal beliefs and opinions.

TRUMP SAYS META HAS ‘COME A LONG WAY’ AFTER ZUCKERBERG ENDS FACT-CHECKING ON PLATFORMS

"These fact-checkers have brought this on themselves," MRC Free Speech Vice President Dan Schneider said. "They've pretended that they're not biased. They've pretended that they're being fair brokers. All the evidence is to the contrary."

Zuckerberg's announcement that Meta would replace fact-checking groups with a system closer to X's Community Notes has sparked mixed reactions. While some have characterized it as a significant step-up from the potential biases of fact-checking organizations, others suggest Meta has pulled the guardrails off their content moderation ambitions.

DataGrade CEO Joe Toscano, a former Google consultant, said that while he believes it is the "right move" for Meta and that a Community Notes-style system is an "interesting concept," it is bound to devolve into a "cesspool." A sort of "vox populi," Community Notes allows regular X users, through a sign-up system, to police content and provide context or corrections.

"Perhaps if Meta uses the notes intelligently, those notes can be used to train AI that they will then turn into a more robust content monitoring system, but I think that would also be a bad idea if that's something they're considering as a next step. The reality is that the internet is full of the loudest people in the room. There are a lot of people who simply lurk on the internet, read content, watch the drama, but never participate, and therefore their thoughts are never put into text or video that can train this AI," he said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

"What we really need if we want a democratic content moderating AI is to get content from the people who don't make content on the internet – everyone from people who are centrist and quiet to political figures and high-level executives who don't have time to use the internet. But if we had that, we probably would never have had these problems in the first place, and that's why this problem is so hard," Toscano added. 

Marcowicz was more optimistic, calling Community Notes on X an "excellent" approach and suggesting the new system is unlikely to be worse than Facebook and Instagram's current model.

"X has managed to utilize its best users to contribute to the Community Notes system and Facebook should attempt something similar," she continued. "Not everyone gets to put up Community Notes, or the system can be overrun by a mob, and that's what makes the whole thing so useful."

Americans had mixed reactions to Meta's decision to end its fact-checking program this week, with some telling Fox News Digital that the move was concerning. 

"Free speech should be absolute," one respondent told Fox News Digital in Texas. "I don't think anybody has the authority to censor anybody."

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that it would be ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to "restore free expression" across Facebook, Instagram and other Meta platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have "gone too far." Zuckerberg said the new system for Meta would be similar to Elon Musk's Community Notes on X. 

"I like the fact of getting rid of fact-checkers. The fact-checkers weren't really doing much fact-checking, only whoever paid them to fact-check," Rudy told Fox News Digital. "Sounds to me like they can't be trusted. The same thing, just dialed down, a little too late to be doing that. But I think it's better than what they had."

INTERNET ROASTS NYT HEADLINE ABOUT FACT-CHECKERS RULING META CRITICISM OF FACT CHECKS 'FALSE:' 'BEYOND PARODY'

Other Americans told Fox News Digital that the announcement was disappointing. 

"That disappoints me, because you want all your social media to be fact-checked as best as possible so you get accurate information. It really concerns me that Facebook may not, you know, go through that process of fact checking, like it should, I believe," Greg told Fox News Digital. 

Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to "political pressure," executives said, but admitted the system has "gone too far." 

Multiple people told Fox News Digital they had not heard about Meta's announcement yet.

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"Honestly, a couple of years ago, I probably would have said, 'Well, it's a private company. They have a right to do what they want and people should use their own brains to figure out what's right and what's not, what's true.' But, I'm a psychology student, and I started realizing that people don't always stop and think for themselves, so maybe they need someone else to fact-check for them. So, yeah, it's concerning," Melissa said. 

Fox News Digital also asked Texas residents about Zuckerberg moving Meta's content moderation team to their state. 

"Yeah, we'll give them a chance and see what the outcome is," Greg said. "I've dropped all my social media, you know, just because it's not fact-checked and it's not policed as well as I believe it should be."

Another Texan, Madeline, told Fox News Digital that Zuckerberg was most likely moving to Texas because businesses are "easier to run" in the state and questioned his reasoning for moving their operation from California.

Elizabeth Heckman reported from Texas.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

In 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter and made a series of changes to the platform, including changing its name to X and introducing Community Notes, which is a feature that allows users to add context or fact-check potentially misleading posts.

This approach differs from Meta’s model, which relies on third-party, independent fact-checking organizations to flag misleading posts on Instagram, Facebook and Threads (its rival to X). 

However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Meta will stop working with these organizations and instead implement an X-like Community Notes feature. Zuckerberg also revealed a series of other major changes to the company's moderation policies and practices, aimed at offering people more freedom of expression.

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Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that the social media company would stop working with third-party fact-checking organizations. In a video posted on Instagram and Facebook, Zuckerberg said the company's content moderation approach resulted too often in "censorship."

"After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth," Zuckerberg said. "But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S."

Zuckerberg said that Meta will end its fact-checking program with trusted partners and replace it with a community-driven system similar to X’s Community Notes.

For the unaware, Community Notes on X allows users to collaboratively add context or fact-check potentially misleading posts. When a tweet is flagged for misinformation or lack of context, users can submit notes that provide additional information or correct inaccuracies. 

These notes are then reviewed by other users, who can upvote or downvote the contributions based on their helpfulness and accuracy. If a note receives enough support, it becomes visible beneath the original tweet, offering a balanced view and helping to inform others.

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Independent fact-checkers, however, aren’t happy with the change.

"Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact-checkers used by Meta follow a code of principles requiring nonpartisanship and transparency," said Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network.

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Zuckerberg also revealed plans to overhaul Meta's recommendation system, which determines the content shown to users. For years, the company has restricted political content, citing user feedback and concerns about the impact of social media on beliefs.

"We built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, but the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes," Zuckerberg said. "Even if they accidentally censor just 1% of posts, that's millions of people, and we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship."

He added that Meta would eliminate some content policies on controversial issues, including immigration and gender, and refocus its automated moderation on what he described as high-severity violations. The company will now take a more personalized approach to political content so that people who want to see more of it in their feeds can see it.

In addition, Facebook will relocate its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas. Zuckerberg also said Meta would collaborate with the incoming Trump administration to promote free speech globally, though he did not provide specific details.

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Meta's platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, have been more tightly moderated compared to platforms like X, which has meant less freedom of expression for users. The changes Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday aim to relax those rules, letting people share their thoughts more freely. This could lead to more offensive content, but that's the trade-off for more freedom. The introduction of Community Notes is a good change, too, as it gives users more control instead of leaving it to a small group of people who might be biased toward a certain political party or issue.

What do you think about the changes Zuckerberg is making to Meta’s content moderation? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Donald Trump reacted to Meta's move to end its fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram and its other platforms, telling Fox News Digital that the company has "come a long way." 

Fox News first reported that Meta is ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to "restore free expression" across its platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have "gone too far." 

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In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said he thinks Meta's "presentation was excellent." 

"They have come a long way," Trump said.

Trump's comments come after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement in a video Tuesday morning, saying his company is "going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms." 

Meta plans to replace fact-checking with a "Community Notes" model similar to the one used on X.

Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to "political pressure," executives said, but admitted the system had "gone too far." 

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Meta Chief Global Policy Director Joel Kaplan told Fox News Digital that Meta is also changing some of its own content moderation rules, especially those that they feel are "too restrictive and not allowing enough discourse around sensitive topics like immigration, trans issues and gender."

"We want to make sure that discourse can happen freely on the platform without fear of censorship," Kaplan told Fox News Digital. "We have the power to change the rules and make them more supportive of free expression. And we’re not just changing the rules, we are actually changing how we enforce the rules."

Kaplan said Meta currently uses automated systems, which he said make "too many mistakes" and removes content "that doesn’t even violate our standards."

He also said there are certain things Meta will continue to moderate, like posts relating to terrorism, illegal drugs and child sexual exploitation.

However, as for the timing of the changes, Kaplan told Fox News Digital the company has "a real opportunity now."

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"We have a new administration coming in that is far from pressuring companies to censor and [is more] a huge supporter of free expression," Kaplan said, referring to the incoming Trump administration. "It gets us back to the values that Mark founded the company on."

Last year, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, in which he admitted that he felt pressure from the Biden administration, particularly with regard to COVID-19 content, and even subjects like satire and humor. 

"The thing is, as American companies, when other governments around the world that don’t have our tradition or our First Amendment, when they see the United States government pressuring U.S. companies to take down content, it is just open season then for those governments to put more pressure [on their companies]," Kaplan explained. "We do think it is a real opportunity to work with the Trump administration and to work on free expression at home."

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Kaplan also said Meta sees "opportunities for partnership" with the Trump administration, not only on issues of free expression but also in "promoting American business and America’s technological edge." 

"Those are issues of great importance to Meta and our sector," Kaplan said. "And we’re excited to work with the Trump administration to advance those goals."

Meanwhile, Meta also said it plans to take a more personalized approach to political content, so that users who want to see more posts of that kind can do so.

Meta said it will refocus its enforcement efforts to "illegal and high-severity violations."

Meanwhile, this week, Trump ally UFC CEO Dana White joined Meta’s board. 

"I love social media," White wrote. "And I’m excited to be a small part of the future of AI and emerging technologies."

Also joining the Meta board is former Microsoft Corp. executive Charlie Songhurst, who has been working with the company already on artificial intelligence products, and Exov NV CEO John Elkann. Elkann’s company has stakes in many European businesses, including Ferrari NV and Italy’s popular soccer team, Juventus Football Club. 

FIRST ON FOX – Meta is ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to "restore free expression" across Facebook, Instagram and Meta platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have "gone too far." 

"We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. "More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S." 

Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, joined Fox News Channel’s "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning for an exclusive interview to discuss the changes. 

"This is a great opportunity for us to reset the balance in favor of free expression. As Mark says in that video, what we're doing is we're getting back to our roots and free expression," Kaplan told "Fox & Friends."

Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was put in place after the 2016 election and had been used to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to "political pressure," executives said, but admitted the system has "gone too far." 

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"We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers," Kaplan told Fox News Digital in an interview. "It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check because, basically, they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform." 

Kaplan told Fox News Digital that Meta is "ending that completely" and will replace it with a "Community Notes" model similar to the one used on X, formerly Twitter.

"Instead of going to some so-called expert, it instead relies on the community and the people on the platform to provide their own commentary to something that they’ve read," Kaplan explained, noting that if a note gets support from "the broadest cross-section of users," that note can be attached to the content for others to see. 

"We think that’s a much better approach rather than relying on so-called experts who bring their own biases into the program," Kaplan said.

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Kaplan also told Fox News Digital that Meta is changing some of its own content moderation rules, especially those that they feel are "too restrictive and not allowing enough discourse around sensitive topics like immigration, trans issues and gender."

"We want to make sure that discourse can happen freely on the platform without fear of censorship," Kaplan told Fox News Digital. "We have the power to change the rules and make them more supportive of free expression. And we’re not just changing the rules, we are actually changing how we enforce the rules."

Kaplan said Meta currently uses automated systems, which he said make "too many mistakes" and removes content "that doesn’t even violate our standards."

He also said there are certain things Meta will continue to moderate, like posts relating to terrorism, illegal drugs and child sexual exploitation.

But as for the timing of the changes, Kaplan told Fox News Digital the company has "a real opportunity now."

ZUCKERBERG, EXPRESSING REGRETS, ADMITS BOWING TO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PRESSURE TO REMOVE CONTENT

"We have a new administration coming in that is far from pressuring companies to censor and [is more] a huge supporter of free expression," Kaplan said, referring to the incoming Trump administration. "It gets us back to the values that Mark founded the company on."

Last year, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee in which he admitted that he felt pressure from the Biden administration, particularly with regard to COVID content, and even items like satire and humor. 

"The thing is, as American companies, when other governments around the world that don’t have our tradition or our First Amendment, when they see the United States government pressuring U.S. companies to take down content, it is just open season then for those governments to put more pressure [on their companies]," Kaplan explained. "We do think it is a real opportunity to work with the Trump administration and to work on free expression at home."

MUSK PROVES HUNTER BIDEN CENSORSHIP CAME FROM COLLUSION AMONG BIDEN CAMPAIGN, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TWITTER

Kaplan also said Meta sees "opportunities for partnership" with the Trump administration, not only on issues of free expression but also in "promoting American business and America’s technological edge." 

"Those are issues of great importance to Meta and our sector," Kaplan told Fox News Digital. "And we’re excited to work with the Trump administration to advance those goals."

Meanwhile, Meta also said it plans to take a more personalized approach to political content, so that users who want to see more posts of that kind can do so.

Meta said it will refocus its enforcement efforts to "illegal and high-severity violations."