Meta’s end to fact-checking will be felt, but not so much in Malaysia, says Fahmi

PUTRAJAYA: Meta’s move to remove independent fact-checking on its platforms will have repercussions, but it will not be affecting Malaysia’s social media community anytime soon, says Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

“At the moment, I don’t see it affecting the Malaysian market, only the United States,” he said, referring to Meta’s initial implementation of the move over the next few months.

Meta in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 7) announced that it will scrap its eight-year-old fact-checking programme, reduce censorship and boost political content on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that they would instead replace fact-checking with a Community Notes model, not unlike that introduced by Twitter (now known as X), back in 2021.

Fahmi said the concept of Community Notes was based on crowdsourcing and had pros and cons.

“This could be a positive thing, as the public can comment and contribute explanations on content that was uploaded to Facebook, for example, and it would be highlighted instead of being buried in the comments section,” he told a press conference on Wednesday.

Fahmi said Meta had yet to contact him, Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching or the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to further discuss the matter.

“However, the ministry will be contacting Meta to learn more about the issue,” he said.

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Meta’s decision to scrap the programme that it introduced in 2016 surprised many, but more so the 10 independent fact-checking partners it contracted in the US. The programme was introduced to curb the spread of misinformation, particularly politically oriented ones.

It is not yet clear whether or not the decision would affect fact-check organisations it had made similar arrangements within about 119 countries around the world, with a large number of them in Europe, Brazil and India.

Zuckerberg on Jan 7 also posted a five-minute video explaining the issue. He attributed Meta’s new direction to the political climate following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and a renewed commitment to promoting “free expression” on its platforms.

The fact-checking partners engaged by Meta all adhere to standards set by the International Fact-Checking Network.

Its director Angie Drobnic Holan on Wednesday said Meta’s decision would hurt social media users looking for “accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their everyday lives and interactions with friends and family.”

“Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact-checkers used by Meta follow a Code of Principles requiring nonpartisanship and transparency.

“It’s unfortunate that this decision comes in the wake of extreme political pressure from a new administration and its supporters. Fact-checkers have not been biased in their work — that attack line comes from those who feel they should be able to exaggerate and lie without rebuttal or contradiction,” she said. – Bernama