Days Before Trump Takes Office, Zuckerberg Backs Free Speech and Condemns "Too Much Censorship"

The Meta founder has suddenly found his conscience at the most opportune time.

INDEPENDENT investigative journalist Whitney Webb, while speaking about Elon Musk’s social credit score system for his social media platform Twitter/𝕏, said this on the gullibility of Americans:

“Americans are very easily hypnotized by rhetoric and they ignore policy, action, or what people actually do. They get so swept up in the image—often false image—that’s projected out publicly, whether on social media or other forms of mass media, and sort of fall for that facade that’s constructed.”

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared to reinforce Webb’s observation during his latest fireside chat, where he discussed the importance of protecting free speech and combating censorship in the years ahead.

In the announcement, Zuckerberg addresses six major concerns that have been prevalent within the Meta network, and shares the solutions that Meta will be implementing to address those concerns. In the coming years, Meta plans to replace third-party fact-checking entities (otherwise known as disinformation or censorship organizations) with community notes, similarly to Twitter/𝕏’s communutiy-drirven verification feature. The Silicon Valley company plans to simplify content policies by eliminating internal restriction policies that have “gone too far,” targeting specific political or controversial topics (i.e. immigration, gender, etc)—an admission that should signal the degree of censorship that Meta’s social media properties have been steeped in for years. They plan to debut a new approach to enforcing policies that will drastically reduce the amount of mistakes that contribute to unjust censorship across Meta platforms by focusing filters on high severity violations rather than any policy violation. They look to revive and recommend civic content once more across all platforms, after years of systematically repressing conversations that Meta platforms deemed too controversial or inconvenient. “It feels like we’re in a new era now, and we’re starting to get feedback that people want to see this content again,” Zuckerberg remarks. Additionally, Meta plans to move the Trust & Safety and Content Moderation teams out of California and into Texas for what appears to be nothing other than a public relations move that keeps the company in the same “free-speech” conversations as Twitter/𝕏. And finally, Zuckerberg plans to work with the Trump administration to protect free expression worldwide against international governments whose policies become more and more restrictive against American companies (for more on this particular issue, read

Matt Taibbi

’s latest here).

Zuckerberg’s newfound advocacy for free speech comes at a notably convenient time, to say the least. With Trump’s inauguration just twelve days away, this shift appears less a matter of principle and more a strategic calculation. One could argue that Zuckerberg’s stance is aimed at safeguarding his assets under a Trump administration while also positioning Meta to compete against platforms like Elon Musk’s Twitter/𝕏. Although Musk’s platform claims to be one committed to free speech, it continues to engage in widespread censorship, arbitrary suspensions, and unjustified account bans.

It’s important to remember that Trump’s presidency also brought significant benefits to media companies, both in mainstream news and on social platforms. Networks such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and The New York Times experienced a surge in ratings—often referred to as the “Trump bump”—during and after the 2016 election. A 2018 article from France 24 highlights how key figures in politics and media viewed Trump’s impact on mainstream news:

“When I talked to the [executive] editor of The New York Times [Dean Baquet], he told me with a smile on his face that Donald Trump has done at least one good thing – and that is that he has boosted the circulation of The New York Times,” Marvin Kalb, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and author of “Enemy of the People”, a book on Trump’s hostile regard towards the US media, told FRANCE 24.

“When Trump says he’s made the media a lot of money, he’s absolutely right,” said Shapiro. “He was a good asset to them during his campaign, and he has become an even better asset to them during his presidency.”

The media “will feed the public what the public is willing to watch”, added Jeanne Zinko, a professor of political science at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, in an interview with FRANCE 24. “If the public wanted to hear about dry policy, we’d see it 24 hours a day – we don’t. C-SPAN’s viewership would be tremendous – it’s not. And what gets the views when it comes to politics is the salacious, the violent.”

CNN has been a notable beneficiary of the rise of Trump. Despite the president’s incorrect statement in July 2017 that its ratings are “way down”, the cable news channel received more viewers in 2017 than in any other year since it was founded in 1980.

The reality of the “Trump bump” is something Zuckerberg undoubtedly understands, and he has positioned himself strategically to capitalize on the benefits it may bring during Trump’s second term. As Jeanne Zinko, a professor of political science at Iona College, aptly noted, “…what gets the views when it comes to politics is the salacious, the violent.” If there’s one certainty about a Trump administration and its accompanying media coverage, it’s that it will remain salacious, often steeped in violent rhetoric—whether real or manufactured. It’s no surprise then that Zuckerberg vows to ease his censorship policies if doing so encourages the kind of frenetic, divisive, and sensational content that drives revenue across Meta platforms, particularly when that rhetoric is directed at Trump rather than a Democratic president. It’s clear that if Kamala Harris had defeated Trump in the election, Zuckerberg would never have made this announcement. Instead, the Meta founder would likely be introducing even stricter censorship policies to align with and appease a new Harris administration.

In the months and years ahead, it’s crucial to remember Whitney Webb’s insight: “Americans are very easily hypnotized by rhetoric and they ignore policy, action, or what people actually do.” The enthusiastic responses to Zuckerberg’s statements only underscore this point.

---

For readers who want even more context on Zuckerberg’s announcement, New Outlook recommends:

1. Amala Ekpunobi’s step-by-step breakdown

2. Glenn Greenwald’s exposé on Zuckerberg’s history of censorship

---