They say that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
At least that seems to be what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doing, with his latest changes to Facebook and Instagram being accused of 'copying' X.
Alongside appointing UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White to Meta's board of directors, Zuckerberg announced an overhaul of its free speech rules. Zuckerberg claimed that the third-party fact-checkers that were given powers in 2016 aren't working anymore, with concerns that people are being 'wrongly' placed in Facebook jail.
Instead, the shackles are being removed amid a bit to 'restore free expression' to Facebook via a new community note system.
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While there are worries that slurs and hate speech will soon be flooding our feed, others have called it a win for Facebook.
One person who's clearly taking note is Elon Musk. The X overlord has similarly been criticized for changes he's made to the platform since he bought Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it in his own image.
Musk and Zuckerberg have publicly sparred for years, with the pair challenging each other to a cage fight in 2023 and Musk more recently saying, "Any place, any time, any rules."
It seems they can at least agree on one thing, with Musk giving a three-word response to Meta's latest update.
Responding to the news of the X-inspired community note system and sharing a title that says "Facebook dumps fact-checkers in attempt to 'restore' free speech," Musk simply wrote: "This is cool."
This short and sweet response suggests that the rivalry between him and Zuckerberg has been drummed up for attention, and with Musk being firmly by the side of President-elect Donald Trump, some of the biggest tech companies around look like they're trying to curry favor.
Apple's Tim Cook has personally donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, while Meta has also stumped up $1 million after Zuckerberg reportedly spent some time at the returning POTUS' Mar-a-Lago residence.
It's all change at Meta HQ, as former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is out as Facebook's Head of Global Affairs and is being replaced by former Republican Party operator Joel Kaplan to lead its public policy operations.
Although there are grumbles that Facebook is becoming more right-wing, Zuckerberg argues it's in response to previous political leanings. Discussing the changes, the tech mogul said: "Fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created."
Facebook will now 'get rid of a bunch of restrictions' on issues ranging from gender to immigration, with Zuckerberg concluding: "What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions."
With Trump once threatening to send the Meta CEO to jail for life and his book saying that he'll be 'watching' Zuckerberg closely, there are plenty of theories about why these changes are being made and why it's happening so close to Trump's inauguration. Either way, the new-look Meta is set to be a divisive one.