The outgoing POTUS took to the bully pulpit Friday while the CEO of went on Joe Rogan today with different takes on facts and the truth.
“Telling the truth matters,” Joe Biden said today in a critical presidential response to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta pulling the plug on fact checking in what is widely seen as more sucking up to Donald Trump.
However, it was the news made by Meta earlier this week on Fox News where it revealed it planned to abandoned fact checking on Facebook and Instagram that really seemed to get under the 82-year-old Biden’s skin.
Mirroring in many ways the position of First Buddy and X owner Elon Musk, Zuckerberg was at least upfront about his ditching of fact checking.
In fact, just hours before the retiring Biden made his remarks today, Zuckerberg let Joe Rogan know in a sit-down interview in Austin where he was really coming from.
The departing President of the United States took to the bully pulpit on Friday, while the CEO addressed Joe Rogan today with varying opinions on the truth and facts.
In a critical presidential response to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta shutting down fact-checking in what is largely perceived as more acquiescence to Donald Trump, Joe Biden stated today that “telling the truth matters.”.
After briefly discussing his economic legacy, Biden covered a wide range of topics in what could be his last press conference as president. In a rare exchange with the White House press corps, Biden discussed the war in Ukraine, pardons, domestic terrorism, whether he could have defeated his current predecessor and successor in the election last year, and whether Vice President Kamala Harris should run again in 2028 (“That would be a decision for her to make”).
But what really seemed to irritate 82-year-old Biden was the announcement during Fox News earlier this week that Meta was going to stop fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram.
Biden criticized Meta’s most recent Trump-leaning action, saying, “The whole idea of walking away from facts checking, as well as not reporting anything having to do with discrimination … I find to be just contrary to American justice … the way we talk about one another.”.
It just runs entirely counter to what America stands for. “.”.
The president stated, “We haven’t always done it in our country, but we want to tell the truth.”. “We wish to be honest. Biden also mentioned the notion that a billionaire could purchase something and declare, “By the way, we’re not going to fact check anything from this point on,” even though millions of people were reading it online.
It’s truly dishonorable, in my opinion. “.”.
In many respects, Zuckerberg’s stance on his decision to forgo fact-checking was similar to that of Elon Musk, the owner of First Buddy and X. In a video released earlier this week, a surf-bro-looking Zuckerberg stated, “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.”. Therefore, we’re returning to our origins and concentrating on minimizing errors, streamlining our regulations, and reestablishing the right to free speech on our platforms. “.”.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that the filters probably won’t stop everything on such issues, but he did say that “legitimately bad stuff” like drugs, terrorism, and child exploitation would still be moderated on Meta’s social media platforms. He went on to say, “The truth is that this is a trade-off.”. In addition to catching less malicious content, it also means that fewer posts and accounts belonging to innocent people will be unintentionally removed. “”.
Zuckerberg’s response, in stark red meat for a single viewer, was to “simplify our content policy and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.” This was the rationale behind the removal of most fact checking on Metz. “.”.
Following numerous reports that the platform was used to spread misinformation during the 2016 election, the parent company of Facebook implemented more stringent fact-checking procedures just a few years ago. Zuckerberg, who wasn’t exactly best friends with Trump during his first term, banned the 45th president from Facebook for two years the day after the hack at the U.S. S. Capitol. Although the suspension was lifted in January 2023, there hasn’t been much improvement in the relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump since then.
In late 2023, Trump, who coasted his way to renomination and ultimately reelection, pledged to imprison Zuckerberg for life for allegedly using his social media platforms against him during the 2020 election.
The boys are now past that.
In fact, Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in a sit-down interview in Austin just hours before the retiring Biden’s remarks today what he was truly thinking.
The CEO of the business that once had Sheryl Sandberg as its COO told Trump’s favorite podcaster, “You want women to be able to succeed and … have companies that can unlock all the value from having great people no matter what their background or gender is.”. However, I believe that these things can always go a bit further. “.”.
Like many corporations in the Trump era, Meta announced today that it would be discontinuing its DEI programs, which Zuckerberg had previously hailed as essential to the company’s expansion and prosperity.
Zuckerberg told Rogan, without irony, about his self-described “journey,” saying: “I kind of think in 2016 and the aftermath I gave too much deference to a lot of folks in the media who were basically saying ‘Okay, there was no way (Trump) could’ve gotten elected except for misinformation.'”. This stuff is truly unbelievable. “.”.
Going all bro and taking a few jabs at the Biden team’s purported censorship efforts (which, in reality, hurt his own team’s reputation), Zuckerberg told Rogan that he thought the tech giants that had previously been “culturally neutered” needed more Y members. Despite the fact that society is clearly full of masculine energy, he stated, “I think corporate culture was really trying to get away from it.”.
In his farewell speech, which the White House says the president will deliver on January 15, Biden might attempt to have the final say in the final days of his administration.
