Latin American fact-checkers are bracing for Meta’s next moves
This 180-degree change comes in response to Donald Trump’s imminent second presidential term and competition methods. Like X community feedback. Meta decided not to invest more money in her program. Now, she hopes Facebook and Instagram users will be the ones to decide what content is misinformation or not.
In the statement announcing that he would dismantle the program, Zuckerberg said fact-checkers had succumbed to political bias, destroying more trust than they created in the United States. However, for Laura Zomer, former director of Chequeado (one of the most important Spanish-speaking verification organizations) and LatamChequea, and now president of Fact check (A means of verification targeting the Latino community in the United States). Zuckerberg’s statements are not surprising, and he does not have any scientific evidence for his claims. “Far from censorship, fact-checkers add context,” says Zomer. “We never advocate for content to be removed. We want citizens to have better information to make their own decisions.”
Zoomer, who doubts the extent to which Meta will benefit from this program solution, asserts that the company is contradicting itself by ending the fact-checking program, especially since it highlighted its positive results in the past. Zomer also agrees with Angie Drobnik-Holan, current director of the IFCN, who spoke on LinkedIn mailwrote: “It is unfortunate that this decision comes in the wake of intense political pressure from the new administration and its supporters. The fact-checkers were not biased in their work — this line of attack comes from those who feel they should be able to exaggerate and lie without refutation or contradiction. “
As Trump, just days before his inauguration, threatens mass deportation of immigrants, Spanish society faces a potential new wave of misinformation. “The evidence makes us think this is going to be bad. Until it is implemented we will see, but we can say that during the Trump campaign, one of the main disinformation narratives was against immigrants, such as the one that said immigrants were committing fraud. That was wrong. The data from the past makes us We believe this decision is likely to negatively impact Latino communities in the United States,” Sommer tells WIRED en Español.
Anti-immigrant rhetoric isn’t the only thing putting the ecosystem at risk. In an age where fake video and audio scams are common, obtaining actionable information will be a priority.
Spanish-language fact-checking media is in danger
Latin America’s news ecosystem, with its economic weakness, is at risk. “Facebook fact-checking payments were still keeping fact-checking organizations and news organizations with a fact-checking division afloat. So I think that, probably, if these organizations can’t diversify soon, a lot of them will. ‘Disappearing’ , says Pablo Medina, disinformation research editor at Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism, CLIP.
While the decision only applies to the United States for now, the project’s disappearance has sparked concern in the Spanish media ecosystem. “The attack expressed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on what he called ‘secret courts’ promoting platform censorship in Latin America — a false claim — suggests Brazil is a key focus of the company’s concerns,” says Ty Nalon. CEO of Aos Fatosone of the most important fact-checking media outlets in the Global South.
“This is very consistent with the rhetoric of Donald Trump, who is a regular critic of journalism and fact-checking,” Nalon says. “The arguments used by Zuckerberg have been widely exploited by the far right around the world to delegitimize effective initiatives against disinformation.” . Since there was no dissatisfaction with the work of fact-checkers before, it seems to me that this is a move aimed at gaining some political advantage. We know that Meta is facing antitrust issues in the US, and proximity to the government could be an advantage for the company.
Meanwhile, says Laura Zomer, evidence from the past gives the news ecosystem reason to worry.
WIRED en español contacted Meta about this story. The company responded via a media representative Statement (in Spanish) of the decision He said this does not apply to WhatsApp and is only intended for US investigators.
This story originally appeared on WIRED in Spanish It was translated from Spanish.
