Meta (Facebook) promises a new era of free speech on the social media platform. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg announced that Facebook would be dropping its “fact-checking network” and move to a “community notes” style system similar to the system on X. Many wonder what this means for guns.
Facebook used to count on fact-checking partners to cut down on so-called “disinformation.” The issue is that some of this disinformation was actually true. One of the most prominent examples is the Hunter Biden laptop story. That New York Post article was censored across all social media platforms. Fact-checkers claimed that the laptop story was “Russian disinformation.” After the 2020 presidential election, fact-checkers acknowledged that the “laptop from hell” was real.
According to Zuckerburg, those days are now over. He claims he recognizes that censorship is a detriment to society. He highlighted that the fact-checkers have been wrong and let their political bias seep into their process. One example of this happening was during the 2020 presidential election cycle. Third-party fact-checkers from France marked an article claiming that Kamala Harris does not support an individual’s right to bear arms as “false.” This reporter posted the Amicus brief filed by Harris in the Heller case, where she argued against the right to bear arms. It was posted without context. The fact checkers marked it false even though it was taken directly from the Supreme Court’s website. AmmoLand News followed up with Meta about the misclassification. Although the “false” rating was removed after our story broke, the social media giant banned my account from the site.
“After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth,” Zuckerberg said. “But the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the U.S.”
If we take Zuckerburg at his word, this change at Meta could be good, but many wonder if the new policy will apply to firearms. Meta has said it will only ban illegal materials, and firearms are legal in the United States, so if Meta is to be believed, it will lift restrictions on gun content.
The trust and safety department is moving from California to Texas, which seems to signal a shift, but the city Meta has chosen is Austin. Although not as far left as the hometown of Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Austin is one of the most left-wing cities in the Lone Star State and no friend to guns. Austin has seen an influx of Californian refugees in recent years. Many of these new residents bring their left-wing politics with them, including a disdain for firearms.
One glimmer of hope is Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan. Mr. Kaplan has a true conservative pedigree from working in Republican circles. He even showed up during the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh to show his support against unfounded accusations. He has worked for conservative media outlets in the past. Mr. Kaplan is an outspoken critic of censorship and has advocated against taking action against political speech on the platform. This spring he will become the president of global affairs.
Other former Meta employees who have had pro-gun stances in the past have left the company. Some of those employees are now returning to help fix Meta. Inside the company, there is a small number of staunch supporters of gun rights. I contacted some of these contacts at Meta, whom I had made contact with during my time working at Facebook, for their thoughts. These former colleagues expressed hope that the censorship of guns will change.
Whether anything changes or not, only time will tell. The winds might have shifted to make social media platforms more pro-gun, or it could all just be lip service.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
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