The fact-checking program of Meta, previously known as Facebook, is resuming the publication of political content.

• Meta has decided to eliminate its third-party fact-checking program and adopt a "Community Notes" model, similar to Elon Musk's X.
• The company is now allowing political content on its platforms and lifting restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender.
• Meta announced the changes Tuesday on Fox News.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the platform will eliminate its third-party fact-checking program in order to "restore free expression" and adopt a "Community Notes" model, similar to Elon Musk's platform X.

Meta has announced that Community Notes will be written and rated by contributing users to provide more context to posts across its platforms, and the feature will be rolled out in the U.S. over the next couple of months. This move is Meta's latest attempt to improve its relationship with Republican President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office.

"Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, stated in a video announcement on Tuesday that the company has reached a point where there are too many mistakes and too much censorship. He added that the recent elections represent a cultural tipping point towards prioritizing speech, and as a result, Meta will focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying policies, and restoring free expression on its platforms."

Mark Zuckerberg has stated that third-party fact checkers have been "overly politically biased" and have "undermined more trust than they have established, particularly in the United States."

Meta is simplifying its content policies by removing restrictions on subjects like immigration and gender and implementing a new approach to policy enforcement that will focus on illegal and high severity violations. The company is moving its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California, a historically Democratic state, to Texas, a historically Republican state.

Zuckerberg stated that they will collaborate with President Trump to counter governments worldwide that are targeting American corporations and attempting to suppress more content.

On "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday, Joel Kaplan, Meta's head of global policy, stated that Meta believes the Community Notes system on Musk's platform X has been functioning effectively. Musk, who has been a staunch supporter of Trump online and has donated millions of dollars to his campaign, has been in close contact with the president-elect since the election.

Last week, Meta announced that Kaplan would succeed Clegg as the company's top policy officer, with Clegg stepping down from his role as a former British deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats party.

Kaplan, a longtime Meta employee who has held several policy-related positions at the company since joining in 2011, is well-known within the Republican party. He previously worked as a White House deputy chief of staff under former President George W. Bush and as a law clerk for former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

In a Facebook post in December, Kaplan disclosed that he accompanied Vice-President Elect JD Vance and Trump during their recent visit to the New York Stock Exchange.

Kaplan stated on Tuesday that if you can say it on TV, you should be able to say it on Facebook and Instagram without fear of censorship, as long as it's appropriate for the floor of Congress.

In 2023, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued subpoenas to Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs to investigate allegations of censorship of conservative voices on their platforms.

Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with Zuckerberg, with the former president-elect referring to Facebook as an "enemy of the people" in a March interview with CNBC. In 2021, Meta suspended Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts for two years after determining that his actions following the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C., could incite further violence.

In 2023, Trump regained access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts, but he faced restrictions and potential penalties if he violated the company's guidelines. Meta eventually removed Trump's account-related restrictions in July before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

In December, Meta made a $1 million donation to Trump's inaugural fund after Zuckerberg and other big technology executives visited the president-elect at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, following his victory in November.

Dana White, John Elkann, and Charlie Songhurst have been appointed to Meta's board of directors.