Meta Is Ushering In a 'World Without Facts,' Says Nobel Peace Prize Winner

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa has said Meta's decision to end factchecking on its platforms and remove restrictions on certain topics means 'extremely dangerous times' lie ahead for journalism, democracy and social media users. The American-Filipino journalist said Mark Zuckerberg's move to relax content moderation on the Facebook and Instagram platforms would lead to a 'world without facts' and that was 'a world that's right for a dictator.'

'Mark Zuckerberg says it's a free speech issue -- that's completely wrong,' Ressa told the AFP news service. 'Only if you're profit-driven can you claim that; only if you want power and money can you claim that. This is about safety.' Ressa, a co-founder of the Rappler news site, won the Nobel peace prize in 2021 in recognition of her 'courageous fight for freedom of expression.' She faced multiple criminal charges and investigations after publishing stories critical of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa rejected Zuckerberg's claim that factcheckers had been 'too politically biased' and had 'destroyed more trust than they've created.'

'Journalists have a set of standards and ethics,' Ressa said. 'What Facebook is going to do is get rid of that and then allow lies, anger, fear and hate to infect every single person on the platform.' The decision meant 'extremely dangerous times ahead' for journalism, democracy and social media users, she said. Ressa said she would do everything she could to 'ensure information integrity.' 'This is a pivotal year for journalism survival,' she said. 'We'll do all we can to make sure that happens.'

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