About-Face

On Tuesday, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced sweeping changes that he claims will reduce censorship and promote better civic discourse on his social media platforms. If fully enacted, these policy shifts across the Meta family of companies would mark a significant departure from the organization’s practices since 2016.

While Zuckerberg’s apparent desire to halt overt information warfare against conservatives is a positive step, we should remain cautious in interpreting this move as a principled stand in favor of respecting constitutional and natural rights. It is far more likely that he is acting out of pragmatism rather than principle, sensing what he has to do given Trump’s victory and the Right’s ascending fortunes.

In the current cultural moment, the woke movement is in decline, and a conservative political ethos is on the rise. X is no longer dominated by progressives. Fortune 500 companies are dismantling Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, properly seeing them as liabilities. Despite the media casting Donald Trump and his supporters as extremists, he is set to begin a second presidential term this month with more popular support than he’s ever had. Within the military, pages promoting the LGBTQ agenda are being taken offline. As these shifts continue, expect to see a societal domino effect where leftism loses mainstream legitimacy and counterculture symbols return to their original fringe status.

Normal is coming back in style.

Zuckerberg’s transformation should also be assessed in light of the ways human beings are naturally wired. We possess an innate desire to belong to a tribe and be on the “right” side of an issue. Mass media studies describe this phenomenon as bandwagon theory, where individuals align their behavior with the actions of the majority. Similarly, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs categorizes this under esteem needs, highlighting the human desire for acceptance. The desire for group alignment is not limited to the average person but extends to the extraordinarily wealthy and influential. This behavior is evident in politicians who adjust their positions based on polling, often described as “sticking a finger in the air to sense the wind’s direction.”

When the Left was ascendant, Facebook became synonymous with undermining personal privacy and censoring conservative speech. During Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, Meta introduced “fact-checkers” ostensibly to promote a positive online experience. However, these supposed arbiters of truth quickly confirmed suspicions that their true mission was to police speech that countered the prevailing zeitgeist. Electronic filters reinforced this bias, removing traditional viewpoints while allowing progressive content to flourish. Facebook doubled down in 2021, banning Donald Trump from the platform—an action it has not taken against any other world leader. This censorious culture did not arise by accident. Zuckerberg clearly bowed to pressure from the totalitarian psyop machine built by President Obama and David Axelrod.

Now, however, Zuckerberg claims he has changed course, stating that Meta will take the following actions:

1. Replace “fact-checkers” with community notes, akin to the practice on X.
2. Reduce restrictions on topics of contentious social debate.
3. Adjust filters to focus on perceived high-severity content violations rather than removing all suspected violations.
4. Promote more civic content.
5. Relocate Meta’s content review team from deep blue California to Texas, a state more representative of the national mood.
6. Collaborate with the Trump Administration to combat censorship around the world.

These steps are welcome but should not immediately grant Zuckerberg a prime seat at Mar-a-Lago or an open invitation to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Zuckerberg has admitted that the Biden Administration pressured Meta to censor information unfavorable to its agenda. In those critical moments, he complied rather than resisted. But it’s easy now to reveal and criticize the totalitarian aims of politicians like Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau who are on their way out of office. Joseph Heller captured this kind of psychological mindset well in his novel Catch 22: “I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top, and I am an anti-fascist now that he has been deposed. I was fanatically pro-German when the Germans were here to protect us against the Americans, and now that the Americans are here to protect us against the Germans I am fanatically pro-American.”

Similarly, Zuckerberg served one master yesterday and now seeks favor with the next. Following his praise of Trump’s response to the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Trump’s re-election motivated his rethinking.

While it is good news that one of the world’s most powerful men is at least not antagonistic toward Trump, unprincipled men usually return to old habits when the winds shift direction. Zuckerberg’s announcement should be met with cautious approval. He has a long way to go to earn our trust.

The American Mind presents a range of perspectives. Views are writers’ own and do not necessarily represent those of The Claremont Institute.

The American Mind is a publication of the Claremont Institute, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to restoring the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. Interested in supporting our work? Gifts to the Claremont Institute are tax-deductible.