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Mark Zuckerberg once said, “He had to prove it.Not a lizard” in a live online question-and-answer session. It’s not the first time, nor the last time, that people have suggested that the pallid Facebook founder is an alien in a slightly robotic way. You gotta love the internet.
But these days, the meta boss is sporting an entirely new aesthetic: a less lizard-man, more regular-issue billionaire tech bro. Gone are the modest gray T-shirts, tightly fitted to a slim frame. In their place, an oversized TS is draped over a bulky body, complete with gold chains and a $900,000 watch. of Julius Caesar’s haircut has also been replaced with a relaxed Californian curling mop, and Zuckerberg’s skin is pale to the point of turning “tan” (Americans insist).
If I even stood in a room with Zook, you might notice that he was wearing a new scent – rather musk-y, maybe. With the new look comes some new ideas, and they seem to have been heavily influenced by one West Coast billionaire.
“It’s time to get back to our roots around free speech,” Zuckerberg said. Video description It was posted on the Meta website on Tuesday. In it, he explains that the company will eliminate the team of professional data analysts it currently employs and replace it with a system of “community notes” as busy as Elon Musk’s X. This will only be in the US to begin with, although it will work “with President Trump to push governments around the world”.
“Governments and legacy media have pushed harder to censor,” Zuck said (note his use of the term “legacy media”). Musk’s favorites). But now we have an opportunity to restore free speech, and I’m excited to take it.
Let me begin by saying that I have some serious issues with the concept of fact-checking in the context of social media, which I have expressed publicly several times. When a Bloomberg columnist asked for examples of fact-checkers showing political bias, he returned three pieces, including a meta one. The column I wrote in 2021in which I argued that fact-checking is often used as censorship. I have too It is written positively Notes about the community, although the system has limitations
And I’m concerned about the spread of misinformation and misinformation online, as everyone is biased and fact-checking is nearly impossible. Choices must be made on which claims to check and which to waver. So the idea that you can actually “reality check” an entire social network is always illusory. And there’s little financial incentive for platforms to do so (unless they’re worried about fines from regulators).
My problem with all of this is that there isn’t much going on in the meta. Even moving content moderation teams from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas — a Democratic city in a predominantly Republican state — “will help us avoid the risk that biased employees will over-censor content,” Zuckerberg wrote in the thread. , is a perfectly reasonable proposition. But the phrasing of that phrase betrays its true intent: It’s not about principles, it’s about optics and what makes the soon-to-be resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue happy.
My issue with Zuckerberg is his spin and opportunism. Ask yourself: There’s a chance Zuckerberg could make all these changes at Meta — plus appoint Trump ally Dana White to the board. replaced What if Nick Clegg had won the presidency of international affairs with prominent Republican Joel Kaplan – Kamala Harris in November?
Trump doesn’t even think so. Last year, the Meta boss warned that Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to “conspire” against him. Asked on Tuesday if Zuckerberg was “directly responding to[Trump’s]earlier threats,” U-Zur said this fact check, the president-elect replied, “Maybe.” .
Zuckerberg can make a good speech about how he doesn’t take government requests anymore, but he’s still getting in — for different reasons. In many ways, all this means is that Zuckerberg is less dangerous than Musk. It’s clear in what direction the influence is being exerted when the boss of Metta goes to dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. It goes where the wind blows.
I’d be more comfortable if someone running platforms used by two-fifths of the world showed some moral courage and leadership. It may have successfully changed the image, but at least lizards have a backbone.
