CNN’s chief media analyst dubbed Meta’s moderation policy changes a “MAGA makeover,” while suggesting that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is transforming into Elon Musk.
CNN’s Brian Stelter on Tuesday called out the multibillionaire Meta chief for his attempts to kiss up to Donald Trump with his announcement that Facebook would shift its moderation team from liberal California to conservative Texas to reduce concerns about bias.
“Oftentimes, it seems that these tech CEOs actually are favoring or preferring a certain kind of speech,” Stelter said. “They‘re favoring their own speech or their own political preferences and not the actual entire user or the community‘s speech.”
Stelter suggested that based on his recent moves, Zuckerberg seems to be following the lead of fellow tech billionaire Musk, who has emerged as a close ally and valuable backer of Trump in the run-up to his presidential victory.
Meta’s new plans included scrapping its fact-checking program and replacing it with a community notes system mirroring that of X, Musk’s platform. Musk also previously announced plans to move the headquarters of his social platform X from California to Texas.
Stelter slammed both men for purporting to be advocates of free speech but instead lifting of up pro-Trump voices. He said that new policy changes at Meta are “very much a MAGA makeover, a pro-Trump makeover.”
“That‘s going to win Meta some conservative users, but it may repel some liberals,” Stelter said. “That‘s the same thing we‘ve seen happen on Elon Musk‘s X. He‘s turned it into more of a right-wing platform where he‘s pro free speech, when it‘s really pro-Musk or pro-Trump speech.”
Zuckerberg had made a series of recent moves that suggest he’s trying to make nice with Trump ahead of him taking office. Last month, Zuckerberg joined other tech titans, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in pledging $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, which is set for Jan. 20. On Monday, he announced that he was adding UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime Trump ally, to Meta’s board of directors.
During his appearance Tuesday, Stelter also took aim at Musk for his slew of posts about the sexual abuse of young girls in the United Kingdom. He noted that although some of the stories Musk was sharing were decades old, the world’s richest man didn’t seem to acknowledge this fact.
“They are horrible stories,” Stelter said, “but oftentimes it seems like Musk is coming in like a brand new college freshman, brand new to a subject, as if he‘s found out about it for the first time.”
Stelter also drew attention to the timing of changes to his social media platform’s content-boosting algorithm which he announced last week.
“Musk also is announcing algorithm changes to X,” Stelter said. “He wants more positive content and less negative content, even as he posts about gangs and about rape and other very negative subjects. it is notable that just as Trump is about to take office, Musk says he wants more positivity, more positivity and less negativity.”
