A hot potato: It seems that Meta is going to become a lot more like X, at least when it comes to what you can say on the company’s platforms. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the suspension of the fact-checking program, a reduction in the amount of censorship, and the recommendation of more political content across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

In a video announcing the changes, Zuckerberg says Meta has built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, “But the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes.”

Zuckerberg adds that accidentally censoring just one percent of posts can affect millions of people, and that we’re at the point now where there have been too many mistakes and “too much censorship.”

“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing free speech,” Zuckerberg continued.

Coming to the US first in the next couple of months, Meta’s biggest change is the replacement of third-party fact checkers with community notes, which have gained popularity on X. Zuckerberg claims that fact checkers have become too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created.

The notes will appear as labels on posts indicating that there is additional information. To prevent bias, the note will “require agreement between people with a range of perspectives.” Meta is also dialing back the prominence of content warning labels.

Meta is also going to “simplify” its content policies, removing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender that “are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”

“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far. So I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.”

Another change is the way Meta enforces its policies on platforms. Filters that used to scan for any policy violation will now focus on illegal and high-severity violations such as terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud, and scams. The company will rely on users to report lower-priority violation before it takes any action. Zuckerberg believes this will dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on the platforms.

The final change is the return of civic content, which was removed in 2021 due to political misinformation concerns. Zuckerberg said Meta will work to keep civic and political discourse “friendly and positive.”

The next change is to move Meta’s Trust and Safety and Content Moderation teams from California to Texas and other US locations. Zuckerberg said as Meta works to promote free expression, it will help build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about bias from the teams.

Finally, the CEO said Meta will work with President Trump to push back against governments around the world that have been “going after” American companies and pushing to censor more. He claims that Europe’s ever-increasing number of censorship laws make it difficult to build anything innovative in the continent. Zuckerberg specifically mentions Latin American courts and China trying to push more censorship.

The announcement comes days after former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said he was resigning as Meta’s president of global affairs, replaced by Republican Joel Kaplan. The company has also appointed UFC CEO Dana White to its board.

While Meta’s changes will likely be welcomed by the incoming president, Trump has had a strained relationship with Zuckerberg in the past. Facebook banned the president-elect for two years shortly after the January 6 insurrection in 2021. Trump has also called Facebook the enemy of the people, accused Zuckerberg of plotting against him during the 2020 election, and said he would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he ever did it again. But Zuckerberg was quick to congratulate Trump on his re-election. Meta also donated $1 million to an inauguration fund for Trump.