Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announces the end of Facebook and Instagram working together Third-party fact-checkers Some conservative activists praised the easing of some content restrictions, calling it a “vindication” for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who dissented from the rest of the court in late 2023 in a content regulation case that included a post by former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The case centered on whether he was dead He was acting out of his element When her platform, Facebook, temporarily removed a 30-minute video posted by Kennedy, which included vaccine misinformation and other false claims about COVID-19. The Supreme Court majority declined to take up the case without explanation, but Alito disagreed, writing as the court's lone dissenter.
Alito, an appointee of George W. Bush, criticized the video's removal in a scathing dissent, saying the platform had censored a type of political speech in its attempts to stamp out misinformation and could therefore be seen as acting on behalf of the United States. The government may cause what he described as “irreparable” harm.
Justice Samuel Alito Jr. during an official group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Our democratic form of government is undermined if government officials prevent a candidate for high office from communicating with voters, and such efforts are especially dangerous when officials who engage in such conduct are accountable to a rival candidate,” Alito said in dissent.
“I will allow him to intervene to ensure that we can reach the merits of the defendants' claims and prevent the irreparable loss of his First Amendment rights,” Alito added.
“Because Mr. Kennedy's arguments on the merits are essentially the same as respondents', allowing interference would not materially affect petitioners' burden with respect to this issue,” Alito wrote. “But refusing to intervene will likely prevent Mr. Kennedy from defending the rights he demands until the spring of 2024 and perhaps even as late as June of that year. By then, several months of the presidential campaign will have passed.”
Trump's inauguration guest list includes tech giants Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk
Meta and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a video posted on social media that they had “gone too far” and allowed too much political bias from outside fact-checkers. (Joe Rogan Experience)
Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that Meta would end previous content restrictions used on Facebook and Instagram — which were put in place after the 2016 election — admitting in a video posted on social media that they had “gone too far” and allowed too much political bias from outside fact-checkers. .
“We've reached a point where there's too much error and too much oversight,” Zuckerberg said in the announcement.
“The recent election also appears to be a cultural turning point toward once again prioritizing expression. So we will return to our roots, focusing on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring freedom of expression on our platforms.”
He said Meta will now replace that system with a “community feedback”-style program, similar to the approach taken by social media platform X. Owned by Elon MuskAssociate Director of the Planned Government Efficiency Department.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
That news He was praised Molly Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, noted in X that Zuckerberg's decision “vindicates” Alito's opposition. Hemingway said of the Supreme Court's decision not to take up the case: “It's crazy for Zuck to say what they did was illegal, but the majority on the court was like, 'I mean, who could know?'”
