Co-Chair of Facebook ‘Supreme Court’ Says Mark Zuckerberg Is ‘Buckling to Political Pressure’

Mark Zuckerberg’s move to replace Meta’s biased left-wing “fact checking” program with user-generated “community notes” has sparked criticism from the Meta Oversight Board. Commonly known as the Facebook “Supreme Court,” the Oversight Board is packed with leftist academics, politicians, and journalists.

Breitbart News recently reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that the company’s partnership with third-party fact-checkers would be replaced by a system of user-generated “community notes” across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This decision, which comes just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and after Zuckerberg’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago in November, has drawn sharp criticism from various quarters.

NPR reports that Michael McConnell, co-chair of the Meta Oversight Board, has expressed his concerns about the timing and optics of the decision. Speaking to NPR, McConnell stated, “It certainly looks like this is buckling to political pressure.” He noted that the changes would have been better received if they were made during “less contentious and partisan times” and could have been evaluated on their merits rather than appearing as a concession to the incoming administration.

Meta has faced intense scrutiny in recent years for its handling of so-called misinformation, particularly in relation to elections, anti-vaccination stories, and the poorly defined category of “hate speech.” The fact checking program was initially implemented in 2016 to address claims that the company had failed to prevent foreign actors, from using its platforms to spread disinformation. Facebook’s biased third party fact checking program cemented its place in what FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has labeled the censorship cartel, which Zuckerberg now promises to reverse.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes could lead to more harmful content on the platform, but argued that fact-checkers have been “too politically biased” and have eroded trust rather than fostering it. He framed the decision as a move towards greater inclusivity and allowing diverse opinions. Joel Kaplan, Meta’s newly appointed Chief of Global Affairs, echoed this sentiment in an appearance on Fox News, stating that the use of third-party fact-checkers, while “well-intentioned,” showed too much political bias.

Read more at NPR here.