UFC boss Dana White speaks out after being appointed to Meta's board

Dana White has spoken out after he was recently appointed to Meta's board headed up by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Get ready for a whole new Facebook, as sweeping changes at Meta tease a very different future for the social media platform.

We already know that Meta is making a controversial AI push, with some Facebook users vowing to delete their accounts. The Meta overhaul is here, and in an unexpected turn, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White has just joined its board of directors.

Joining Exor CEO John Elkann and technology investor Charlie Songhurst, White's appointment might seem the most unusual. After all, we're used to him standing ringside while people beat the living snot out of each other - not overseeing Facebook shorts about how to get buff in 2025.

Responding to the news, White said: "I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board."

Saying he's a 'huge believer' in social media and thinks AI is the future, White added: "I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level."

Discussing their appointments, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "Dana, John and Charlie will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection."

Zuckerberg is currently in the firing line after announcing divisive changes that will see Meta's third-party fact-checking service scrapped after nine years of working in the USA. Instead, posts that someone believes are misleading or need more context can be highlighted with a community note feature.

This is similar to the current community note system that's currently in use on X.

The Meta CEO says it’s in the hope of restoring free speech to social media and was spurred by the recent presidential election where Donald Trump was victorious over Kamala Harris.

In a new video, Zuckerberg explained: "Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how... A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor."

Speaking of the President-elect, White is thought to have been key in Trump's campaign, especially in securing votes among young male voters. Discussing his support of Trump with The New Yorker in November 2024, White explained: "You’re getting conversations in these podcasts, and you yourself, as a young kid, get to really see who Donald Trump is. Not the bullsh*t you hear from the far-left media." Still, White was somewhat burned by the entire situation, telling the outlet he'd had enough of politics: "I’m never f**king doing this again. I want nothing to do with this sh*t. It’s gross. It’s disgusting."

As for letting Facebook off its leash, Zuckerberg said "fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created." Despite Meta saying the current system was making 'too many' mistakes and was wrongly locking people in Facebook jail, the idea that free speech will be a priority has critics thinking it will go the way of Twitter since Elon Musk took the reins in October 2022.

There are continued claims that Zuckerberg is trying to get into bed with Trump, especially as White's new position comes just days after former Republican White House deputy chief of staff Joel Kaplan was announced as Meta's new President of Global Affairs.