Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta’s latest era in a three-hour Joe Rogan interview

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended Meta’s decision to loosen its content moderation policies on Friday. Appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Zuckerberg faced widespread criticism for the decision, including from employees in his company.

“It probably depends on who you ask,” Zuckerberg said when asked how the Meta updates have been received.

The Major updates have been announced by Meta this week it was ending its independent fact-checking program and replacing it with a community records program like X. This means Facebook, Instagram and Threads will rely more on community members to flag misinformation. The company also said it will increase the thresholds for automated content filters. This means that on Meta platforms, fewer bad posts will be automatically deleted, but also fewer good posts will be deleted by mistake. And Meta didn’t announce it, but it is said to have eliminated the largest DEI effort.

In a wide-ranging, candid conversation that lasted nearly 3 hours, Zuckerberg explained why he has turned social media platforms into what he calls the roots of freedom of expression.

“If you believe in giving people a voice, you only build one of these companies,” said Meta’s CEO. “The main purpose of social media is to allow people to share what they want. It goes back to our original mission of empowering people to share and make the world more open and connected.”

The timing of these decisions cannot be overlooked. Zuckerberg announced these changes a few days before the inauguration of Donald Trump. Previously elected president Meta’s CEO has claimed to be plotting against him in the 2020 electionsand reportedly threatened Zuckerberg with jail if he did it again.

When it comes to Trump, Zuckerberg said he’s pretty optimistic about the new president because he “just wants America to win.” The CEO noted how important it is to have a government that stands up for American technology companies abroad. A review of what methane is facing in the European Union.

However, Zuckerberg argued that the timing of these changes was purely coincidental and that there is never a good time for major content moderation changes. In fact, Meta’s CEO said these changes were a long time coming.

“From the beginning, I was very concerned about being the person who decides what’s right in the world,” Zuckerberg said. “This is a crazy position for the billions of people who use your service.”

Over the past decade, Meta’s CEO says, people have started to push for ideologically-based censorship on its platforms. He specifically cited two instances where this happened: the 2016 US presidential election and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Zuckerberg said the Biden administration pressured them to get the right information. The Meta CEO said some of the concerns about side effects from the vaccine, which Meta dispelled at the time, should not be dismissed as misinformation.

The Meta CEO told Rogan that X and Twitter “have done it better than us” when it comes to content moderation, noting how his platforms will adopt a community notes feature. Note that several advertisers have left Xi in recent years due to its content moderation policiesthat’s an output X is now challenging the court as a bargain.

Rogan and Zuckerberg moved from content moderation during Friday’s episode to a wide range of topics, including jiu-jitsu, AI and broader changes in American culture.

Meta’s CEO said he’s seen seat flipping happen where people trust government officials and the established media less. In their place, social media creators and podcast hosts like Rogan himself are gaining influence and credibility.

This sentiment is reflected in Meta’s recent transitions to news on its platforms in the company’s short term. stopped promoting news or political content as a whole. However, Zuckerberg hinted this week rephase this political content to its promotion algorithms.

At another point, Zuckerberg noted how Western society, particularly corporate America, has been “emasculated” and “emasculated.” He advocated the need for a more masculine presence in the country and its businesses.

Several times throughout the podcast, Zuckerberg said he’s been in too much of a rush to media over the past 10 years and is to blame for events beyond his control. It wasn’t the first time Zuckerberg suggested Meta would be less responsible advancing for everything bad on its platform. However, he appeared more candid and brave than ever in his conversation on Friday.

“We got to a point where what you couldn’t say (on our platforms) was the main discussion,” Zuckerberg said, referring to how Meta silenced conservative voices.

The Meta CEO brought up how Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, has repeatedly spoken. stated that women should not be allowed to serve in combat roles. Zuckerberg said that under Meta’s previous content moderation guidelines, these comments would not be allowed because they exclude a protected category of people. Under Meta’s new policies, those comments will be fine, Zuckerberg said.

“If it’s okay to say it in Congress, you should probably be able to discuss it on social media,” he said.

In Dana White, Meta’s CEO said he added the UFC president to the board because of his entrepreneurial leadership and to ensure his company has more people with a “strong backbone.”

“We have a lot of governments and people around the world putting a lot of pressure on our company, and we need some strong people to advise us on how to deal with these situations,” Zuckerberg said in White.