US right-wing is pressing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to release what they are calling “Facebook Files”, referring to internal documents and conversations at the company regarding content moderation. The US techie has drastically steered Meta to the right ahead of the inauguration ceremony of US President-elect Donald Trump.
Zuckerberg earlier shut down Meta’s fact-checking and moderation systems, arguing they promoted censorship and curtailed freedom of speech. Meta has also made some changes to its policy on political content, saying it will again start recommending posts on politics.
Meta is also ending its programmes aimed at hiring diverse candidates, including disbanding its diversity, equity and inclusion team and getting rid of its “Diverse Slate Approach” in its hiring process.
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But US right-wing and Trump supporters are looking askance upon Zuckerberg’s drastic shift. Trump and his loyalists spent years accusing Zuckerberg of sucking up to the administration of Joe Biden and suppressing conservative narratives and accounts across Meta platforms.
“If Zuckeberg is serious about transparency, then it’s time for the Facebook Files,” wrote one user Mario Nawfal.
🚨 WAIT, COULD WE BE SEEING FACEBOOK FILES?
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 15, 2025
If Zuckeberg is serious about transparency, then it’s time for the Facebook Files.
Let’s see all the back-and-forth between the government and Facebook on COVID/vaccine censorship — not just carefully selected emails.
We’ve seen the… https://t.co/eadLrm16JO
“Let’s see all the back-and-forth between the government and Facebook on COVID/vaccine censorship — not just carefully selected emails.”
People are asking Zuckerberg to release Facebook Files on the lines of Twitter Files released by Elon Musk when he bought the platform.
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Musk showed "what really happened" behind the scenes regarding content moderation decisions at the social media company. Twitter Files consisted of thousands of documents, including many Slack discussions, between Twitter employees about their content moderation practices.
That would be great https://t.co/4EMb1zuw4P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2025
Musk has also agreed to the idea of Zuckerberg releasing Facebook Files. Reacting to Mario Nawfal’s post on X, Musk wrote, “"That would be great".