Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge to lessen censorship is called into question when Meta, the social media behemoth, blocks connections to a rival platform just days after announcing its support for free speech.
Facebook, which is owned by Meta, has begun taking down connections to Pixelfed, a decentralized rival to Instagram, according to a report from 404 Media. Pixelfed.social links are being quickly removed after being reported as “spam.”
Meta’s censoring of rivals runs counter to its stance on free speech.
The censoring of Pixelfed was first seen by AJ Sadauskas on Bluesky, a rival to X that Jack Dorsey created in 2019. Sadauskas shared pictures of Facebook removing Pixelfed links “within seconds.”
Johan Vandevelde, another Bluesky user, revealed that the automated removals weren’t only happening to Pixelfed but also to other Facebook rivals. He stated:
I sent a link to Mastodon when someone asked about [Facebook] substitutes. Due to “spam,” my remark was promptly deleted.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, wrote the press release headlined “More Speech and Fewer Mistakes,” which was released on January 7. In a five-minute video included with the rollout, Zuckerberg said that Meta will “return to its roots around free expression.” In addition to lowering moderating, Meta said that it will replace third-party fact-checkers with a community notes mechanism much to X’s.
US President-elect Donald Trump hailed Meta’s policy change, claiming it was a reaction to threats he had made against the corporation. However, Zuckerberg was chastised by some of Meta’s senior executives for “bowing to political pressure” before to Trump’s inauguration, including Michael McConnell, co-chair of the company’s oversight board.
The apparent suppression of Pixelfed seems to be inconsistent with the company’s recently articulated mission, even if it may be seen as Meta attempting to stop the promotion of direct rivals rather than suppressing free expression. According to the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal, Meta’s modifications seem to be more aimed at repairing political ties than promoting free expression.
According to the Editorial Board, Meta’s want to mend fences with Republicans who are ready to seize power of Washington and evade regulation may be a contributing factor in these moves. The board also said that Zuckerberg’s election of Trump is a clear response to the message that voters delivered.
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