Mark Zuckerberg and Meta's Dangerous Decision to End Fact Checking | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   Let's get to our first big story. As one headline put it this week, Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are finding new ways to kiss Trump's ass. I would move around to the front, actually, in that one. That followed, uh, Zuckerberg announcing on Tuesday that Meta is ending its fact-checking program, essentially. Meta's platforms will instead use community note systems, similar to X, that will apparently, quote, "reduce censorship." Rules on hate speech are being loosened. If you look at what they've done, it's an astonishing thing, the things they've taken out. And Meta's content moderation team will be moved from California to Texas, where there is less concern about bias, 'cause Texas people have no bias. I've never seen it ever. Texas people won't shut up about Texas to start with. Anyway, uh, Zuckerberg shared a video, explained his decision. Unfortunately, I have to listen to him, so let's listen.

2. NANarrator0:44

   The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So, we're gonna get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.

3. KSKara Swisher0:58

   I'm gonna let you stop- start, Scott, 'cause you ha- you went on Morning Joe and had quite a moment. I did the same thing over on the BBC- on the Beeb in London, but go ahead. Tell me your thoughts.

4. SGScott Galloway1:09

   We're moving to a- uh, th- the, the keys to a thriving democracy are threefold. You have to have strong institutions that people respect, you have to have shared stories that we're the good guys and we won World War II for the right reasons and Americans' hearts are in the right place and believe in the Founding Fathers and the rights of people and, and you also have to have kind of a lot of social capital within smaller networks, whether it's your church or your neighbors, or maybe you served, you know, how you feel about people who also served in the Marines or whatever it might be. And slowly but surely, social media is eroding all of those things. And this is just another example of how those three things will continue to come down, um, and be eroded. You have somewhere between a half and two-thirds of Americans, depending upon their age, now get their news from social media.

5. KSKara Swisher2:00

   Mm-hmm.

6. SGScott Galloway2:01

   And today, when I was on Morning Joe, I called Trump an insurrectionist and a rapist. Mika had to stop the show and say that Trump was found liable for sexual abuse. Now, imagine in contrast what you're gonna be able to say about anything, health, elections, what you should do, uh, when a fire breaks out in the Pacific Palisades on, on Meta. I mean, we are all going into- we are all separating further and further. And to think that this doesn't have not only implications around candidates or politics, but violence. Look what happened in 2017.

7. KSKara Swisher2:37

   Myanmar, everything.

8. SGScott Galloway2:39

   (laughs) There was violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar. And a year later, there were rumors circulated on WhatsApp unfettered, and people were being pulled out of cars in small towns in India-

9. KSKara Swisher2:52

   Mm-hmm.

10. SGScott Galloway2:52

    ... and hanged because of rumors around, uh, kidnappings.

11. KSKara Swisher2:56

    Mm-hmm.

12. SGScott Galloway2:56

    I mean, this, uh, uh, remember Pizzagate? That started on social media.

13. KSKara Swisher3:01

    Yeah, all of it.

14. SGScott Galloway3:02

    So, uh, four years ago, he called it, uh, moderation. Now they call it censorship. And, uh, I gotta give it to the guy. I do think he's a brilliant businessman. He said, "Okay, this guy has threatened to put me in jail. I'm gonna turn chicken shit and turn it into chicken salad and come up with a way to please him and potentially ruse up- reduce up to $5 billion of costs in the safety and security team." The move to Texas is actually not political. It's a means of quiet firing 30% to 60% of the staff, 'cause they won't move. And if you take- say he saves $3 or $4 of that $5 billion, it trades at a P of 30. 30 times 4 would be $120 billion, now it's 50. He just made another $18 billion while managing to kiss Mark Zuckerberg's ass. And-

15. KSKara Swisher3:49

    Not Ca- no, Donald Trump's ass.

16. SGScott Galloway3:50

    I'm sorry, excuse me. While man- (laughs) while managing-

17. KSKara Swisher3:52

    Mark, yeah.

18. SGScott Galloway3:52

    ... to kiss even more.

19. KSKara Swisher3:53

    No one wants to kiss Mark Zuckerberg's ass, but go ahead.

20. SGScott Galloway3:55

    And, uh, just a larger point here, and the point I made on Joe Scarborough as I broke in my indignant self-

21. KSKara Swisher4:01

    Mm-hmm.

22. SGScott Galloway4:02

    ... preachy self, my question is the following, where the fucking men?

23. KSKara Swisher4:07

    Yeah.

24. SGScott Galloway4:08

    Where are the men that recognize, "Okay, I've made tens of billions of dollars here. I lead a remarkable life. Uh, my kids have incredible opportunity. I have a broader selection set of mates than I deserve. People laugh at my jokes. I'm gonna-"

25. KSKara Swisher4:22

    "I get to dress like this."

26. SGScott Galloway4:23

    "... I'm gonna live five or 10 years longer than most people. I get to do remarkable things because of this operating system called America and the blessings of America, and yet I have absa-fucking-lutely no fidelity to those values."

27. KSKara Swisher4:37

    No.

28. SGScott Galloway4:37

    What is the point of having this much money and this much power if you have to bend the knee to a kleptocrat?

29. KSKara Swisher4:45

    But it's more than that. Let me just say, let me do my little rant now, because it's more than just bending the knee. Of course he's doing it in his self- interest and his business interests, which is al- Mark... Someone was like, uh, I think it was on Piers Morgan, he was like, "Are you surprised?" I'm like, "No, no, this is what he's like. This is what I've told you he's like for dif- You know, I read a piece in the New York Times where I was like, "This guy is the most dangerous person on the planet." Like he is, he has amplified and weaponized everything, and then he doesn't want to take responsibility. Let me tell you, I've talked to a lot of people inside, uh, Facebook and Meta. They are sick to their stomach, Mark, just so you know. I know Joel Kaplan is, is kissing your ass to get the job that he got, but let, let me just be clear. So many people called me to- this past week. The f- the first person who was this first PR person was like, "We gotta get off Threads now." Like, I've had so many calls. Sick to their stomach seems to, to do it. And be- they should be sick to their stomach, because you are a sad and shameless weathervane. In four more years, if the Democrats take over, you're gonna shift again, because that's what you do. You have no values whatsoever. And one of the- I thought Will Ramos did a great piece in The Washington Post in- of all places, where you cite- he goes, "Mark Zuckerberg cited a cultural tipping point to justify dumping fact checks and relaxing hate speech rules. Um, Meta ending fact checks in the US made headlines, but the real ballgame here is the broader repudiation of the idea that a company is responsible for bad stuff on its platform." As Zuckerberg puts it, "bad stuff." Mark, you don't... Bad stuff. What, uh, he thinks he's gonna, like, like, stub a toe? These pe- people, you put people in danger. Um-The company never really wanted that responsibility and Trump's election allows them to shrug it off. And, and, and they never wanted to. That's the thing is, first of all, these fact-checking systems do make mistakes. So does Community Notes. So does AI. But you have to employ... If you wanna build your fucking social media network, you need to have all of them at work and to impugn these fact-checkers... By the way, they have conservative fact-checkers. They're not all libtards, Mark. Sorry. They're from conservative publications. If you wanna do that, you need fact-checkers that make mistakes and then you correct them. You need, um, you need AI, you need Community Notes to wholly embrace what they're doing at Twitter, on top of it with X, is repulsive. Mark, he hates you. Just so you know, they laugh at you behind your back, in front of your back, they laugh at you. And, and, and the fact that he cannot... He switches his tune. I've had conversations where he says, "Kara, AI was gonna do this someday. Kara, Community is gonna do this. Kara, moderation is gonna do this." I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth anymore. Honestly, you're s- You say mendacious fuck all the time, Scott, and I gotta tell you, it's exactly what's happening here. Now, secondly, when he put UFC, um, CEO and Trump crony Dana White on the board, that also upset people inside the company, and they tamped down the criticism on internal Facebook boards among employees because this guy was, was s- was caught on a video tape hitting his wife. Um, his wife hit him, but I spent years, years ta- talking to my sons about never hitting a woman. No matter what, if she hits you, I don't care, right? This, these are the people he's bringing onto the board of, of, of Meta right now 'cause he happens to like doing, uh, uh, you know, MMA. And by the way, Mark, the reason all those MMI fighters hang with you is 'cause you're rich. They don't think you're that good. They... It's great to hang out with a rich person and I'm glad you're doing it. I'm hoping you're having fun. But this, the whole thing couldn't get worse except for what Amazon did about giving Melania $40 million. No, that wasn't even as bad. And these, when these guardrails are removed, it is going to be disastrous for, for people. Scott, take over on your indignancy, please.

30. SGScott Galloway8:36

    Well, I just... I, I feel a need to just fact-check myself and, and disclose that on the international, um, markets around Meta, I do believe they're going to maintain some fact-checking and safety and security, 'cause they do recognize that there's real danger overseas for people. The, the, the... I mean, this has so many negative ramifications, one of which being that News Corp, when they say Smartmatic and Dominion have been weaponized in an election and they knew that was not true and decided to put it out anyways or promote it because they knew it would tickle the censors of their viewers, and then Dominion says, "You have defamed us because this has hurt our business and you knew you were lying," and the courts say, "Yes, this is, qualifies as defamation. You have to pay them $774 million." And, and then Iger's worried about a suit from the president, retribution from the president, and ABC has to pay. The companies that are now having to spend a ton of money on moderation and are chilled and scared and have to stop an interview with me because I call someone a rapist instead of a sexual abuser, uh, folks, be careful. Slow your roll. Everyone from News Corp, from the Wall Street Journal, to the BBC, to Wikipedia, to the Washington Post, they're all shrinking and going away. And there's been all these articles recently about some anchors, including anchors we know and love, having to take pay cuts. So, congratulations. Your lamestream media is going extinct and you're gonna have to get all of your news from social media, which is a fucking food fight around whichever algorithm grabs the most novel, i.e. conspiracy, i.e. false narrative, to punch out there. I mean, these traditional media outlets do play an important role and they are having... Their windpipes are being crushed right now.

Episode duration: 10:37