Meta scraps third party fact checkers – and UFC boss Dana White joins board
Meta is scrapping its third party fact-checking service in the US after nine years and replacing it with a “community notes” system, similar to the one used by X.
It says it will help promote free expression and stop harmless content from getting taking down.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg suggested in an online video that recent events including Donald Trump’s victory in the US election helped inform the change.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritising speech,” he said,.
Users on sites such as Facebook and Instagram will be able to highlight posts that could be misleading and need more context – instead of leaving it to outside organisations and experts.
“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how… A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,” Meta said.
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It said the current system was “making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression”.
“Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail’, and we are often too slow to respond when they do,” said the company.
It means fact-checked content will no longer be demoted and instead there will be a label notifying users there’s additional information – with this written and rated by users.
Agreement between people with a range of perspectives will be a fundamental part of the system to help prevent biased ratings, according to a statement.
Currently, there are full-screen warnings that must be clicked through before a fact-checked post can even be seen.
Meta said the third party system was the “best and most reasonable choice” in 2016, but things had changed.
It said community notes works well on X and allows “people across a diverse range of perspectives decide what sort of context is helpful for other users to see”.
Community notes will be rolled out in the US over the next few months and the model will be improved during the rest of the year.
UFC boss White joins Meta board
On Monday, Meta announced UFC boss Dana White had joined its board of directors.
Mr Zuckerberg said White was joining alongside car industry tycoon and Ferrari chairman John Elkann and British tech investor Charlie Songhurst.
Dana White is joining Meta’s board and is friends with the incoming president. Pic: AP
White is known for being friends with Donald Trump, and the pair are often seen ringside at the UFC’s mixed martial arts events.
He’s also spoken several times at Republican conventions events and whipped up the crowd during a Trump rally during the last election campaign.
The appointment could prove helpful for Meta’s relations with the incoming president.
Mr Trump and Meta had strained relations after the 2020 election, with Mr Trump accusing the company of suppressing content that would have hurt Joe Biden.
Donald Trump was also banned from Facebook after the US Capitol riots 2021 – but the decision was reversed a year later.
In a statement, Mr Zuckerberg – who also practises mixed martial arts – said White has built the UFC “into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world”.
“I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand,” he added.
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White said he had never been interested in joining a board of directors until he got the call from Meta.
“I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside,” said the UFC mogul. “There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level.”
White’s appointment comes a few days after it was revealed former Republican White House deputy chief of staff Joel Kaplan would take over from Nick Clegg as Meta’s president of global affairs.
That move was also seen by many as trying to position the company favourably for the next presidency.
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
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A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
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One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
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