For years, Mark Zuckerberg tried to keep his social network out of the fray of partisan politics.
Why not? Meta's flagship apps, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, are themselves unruly nation-states, with billions of users, fragile domestic politics, fickle advertisers, and the perpetually mistreated flu. Encers, and had an irregular and uneven enforcement regime (known as “content moderation”). It was supposed to protect peace.
Given the headaches that come with running a quasi-government, the last thing Mr. Zuckerberg wanted to do was get too involved with the actual government. It's like calling for the power of law to be used to censor certain voices or investigate politically sensitive issues. Bringing up the topic or threatening to put meth executives in jail for non-compliance.
But that was then. With President Trump's second term just around the corner, Zuckerberg is completely overhauling his company's MAGA.
Along the way, he also discovered that Meta, a shape-shifting company that has injected itself into every major technology trend of the past decade, from cryptocurrencies to the Metaverse to generative AI to wearable computing, is at its core. It is also clear that there is a fundamental void. I have no idea what it is or where the next growth phase will come from. But in the meantime, the company will adopt whatever values Zuckerberg thinks it needs to survive.
The most recent changes began before the election. Mr. Zuckerberg, whose contributions to the 2020 election integrity effort prompted President Donald J. Trump to threaten him with life in prison, called Mr. Trump's recovery from the assassination attempt “terrible.” But the move has accelerated in recent weeks after Mr. Trump and Mr. Zuckerberg met at Mar-a-Lago to mend fences.
Last week, Mehta's head of global policy Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister chosen for his centrist bona fides, was hired to replace longtime Republican operative and longtime liaison to Zuckerberg's allies. Joel Kaplan, who has been serving in this position, has been appointed. Trump is right.
Meta announced Monday the appointment of three new board members, including Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a close friend and political ally of Mr. Trump.
And on Tuesday, Mr. Zuckerberg, wearing a $900,000 watch and exuding nervous enthusiasm, posted on Instagram Reels that Meta was replacing its fact-checking program with an X-style “community notes” feature. Announced. The company also revised its rules to allow more criticism of certain groups, including immigrants and transgender people, and allowed users to see more “civic content” in their feeds, allowing them to He said the company plans to move its review operations from California to Texas to avoid any negative impact. political bias.
Mr. Zuckerberg's reasons for these changes — that Meta realized its old rules led to excessive censorship and should return to its roots as a platform for free expression — were nonsense. (For starters: What are its roots? Facebook was inspired by a popular website for Harvard students, not a Cato Institute white paper.)
Indeed, Mr. Zuckerberg has changed his views on speech many times, usually in line with prevailing political winds. And the details of the latest changes (an extensive list of right-wing speech demands) and how they were communicated (Mr. Kaplan announced it on “Fox & Friends”) reveal what the real goal is. .
The most common theory about Mr. Zuckerberg's motives is that he is simply doing something politically expedient. The argument is that Trump is simply pandering to the incoming Trump administration in hopes of getting a better deal for himself and Meta, as many Silicon Valley tycoons do. Currently employed.
Another theory, borne out by conversations I've had with several of Mr. Zuckerberg's friends and colleagues in recent months, is that Mr. Zuckerberg's personal politics have shifted sharply to the right since 2020. The theory is that support for Mr. Trump may be having this effect. Out of genuine enthusiasm rather than cynical opportunism.
This theory cannot be proven or disproved. Unlike Elon Musk, Mr. Zuckerberg does not air his political opinions unfiltered dozens of times a day. But I think it's plausible. I've spent a lot of time researching stories of disaffected liberals turning to the right, and Mr. Zuckerberg's recent story fits the bill surprisingly well. A 40-year-old wealthy man tainted by public opinion begins to listen to Joe Rogan, takes an interest in mixed martial arts and other hyper-masculine hobbies, becomes irritated with the woke left, and mainstream media A “liberal” who, angered by this, rebrands himself as a bad boy and adopts the label “classical,” but quietly supports most of the tenets of MAGA conservatism.
At least Zuckerberg is clearly studying Musk's strategy. In a video this week announcing Mehta's changes, he spoke with dripping disdain about “legacy media,” a phrase Musk likes to use, the same as when Musk took over Twitter. , accused California-based employees of political bias. .
Whatever the cause, these changes represent Meta's biggest political realignment since 2016. In 2016, Meta responded to rampant misinformation on Facebook and widespread criticism of its role in Trump's election by revamping its rules and investing billions of dollars in content moderation.
The list of people hurt by Meta's new rules could be long: immigrants, transgender people, victims of online bullying and harassment, targets of future QAnon-style conspiracy theories, and people who want to see trusted information when they log on. Facebook, Instagram users, etc.
But the most unexpected victim may be Mr. Zuckerberg himself. He has always tried to avoid being cornered by political pressure, but from now on (at least for the next four years, or until the winds change again), his decisions will be the ones to be judged. I am willing to capitulate to the right on issues of speech.
He may find that his new allies on the right demand more censorship from him and are less forgiving of his mistakes than his predecessors on the left. (Some right-wing media outlets are already urging Mr. Trump and his allies not to trust Mr. Zuckerberg's change of heart.) And the benefits he expects from cozying up to Mr. It may not be fully realized. (One complicating factor is that Mr. Musk, the president-elect's chief technology adviser, is not a fan of his.)
But Meta's real problem is that Meta still doesn't understand what it is. Is it a purveyor of aging (yet profitable) social media apps? A champion of open source AI development? A creator of the next generation of augmented reality hardware? A way for people to connect with family and friends? ?A TikTok-style algorithmic feed combining professional influencers and AI slop? Are you a builder of immersive virtual worlds? Is there anything else even weirder?
A political reset may buy Mr. Zuckerberg time to answer these questions. But for the meta to grow beyond the Trump era, it will take more than just bending the knee.
