Mark Zuckerberg has announced Facebook is going to dial back on the censorship, allow open discussion on gender and climate, and sack the fact checkers. Three cheers for the Enlightenment. And apparently on the feast of the Epiphany.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/too-much-censorship-mark-zuckerberg-announces-meta-will-end-factchecking-on-facebook-instagram/news-story/cc70dab8ae874a91ce2f6831f78e4f67

This marks an interesting shift in the dynamics of the Internet. It's in line with the views of the new US administration where the "totalitarian" "Hitler-lite" Donald Trump is actually moving to dismantle state and deep state censorship.

This puts Albo and his censorship Czars - Julie Inman Grant in the eSafety office and Michelle Rowland, his minister, as well as the lesser known figures in the ACMA - in a difficult position. They can huff and puff, but can they effectively beat the US First Amendment?

Any ban on postings in Australia would effectively be a ban in the US, but if Zuck doesn't want to implement them, then it's going to be a bit difficult to enforce the judgments.

They could of course try a Great Firewall of Australia, but I don't think that would sit too well with voters.

From my point of view this is great news as OLO has always had a policy of allowing open conversations on virtually anything (with exceptions for court cases, defamation, and stuff right on the edges of sanity) because we have always believed more discussion, not less, is the antidote to bad ideas.

Hopefully, after Donald Trump's inauguration and our coming election, the Albanese & the Censors band won't be in any "position" except opposition.

As far as I know this will only affect the US not Australia.

And it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of Meta and
Zuckerberg for years accusing the company of bias and
threatening to retaliate against the tech billionaire once
back in office. Zuck is simply "taking care of business"
and getting in first. Probably a wise move.

We'll have to wait and see if it works.

A Trump withdrawal from the WHO is in the wind again. It was started during Trump's last Presidency, but he lost, and Biden knocked it on the head. Better luck this time, perhaps, if he starts early, and Mr. Trump has made it clear that he has learned from past mistakes. Bye bye to the lavish support for WHO - $US 1.3 billion in 2022-23.

Knowing, as we do, that the WHO wants Australia and all member countries to hand over their health sovereignty (pandemics etc) to it, whoever forms an Australian government next year needs to follow what Trump does very carefully - or possibly suffer the wrath of a man who doesn't care for weak allies.

There is a world of difference between 'free speech' and the intentional spreading of lies - i.e. they eat the cats and dogs. It is the latter that is the real danger.

Its been clear for a while now that Zuckerberg has been embarrassed by the craven ways Meta has knelt before the government censorship authorities.

Facebook was one of the main forces behind disgraceful suppressing of the Biden Laptop in 2020 and was also completely on board with suppressing any and all covid data that the government thought unhelpful. Zuckerberg has spoken before about how his people were assailed almost daily by government authorities seeking to suppress data, opinions and people.

The release of the Twitter Files following Musk's purchase of what became 'X', showed wide-spread censorship on Twitter but even more on Facebook, Instagram and supposedly encrypted WhatsApp. This was equally embarrassing for the likes of Zuckerberg.

I wouldn't say that he has become a complete MAGA convert but he has recently visited Mar-A-Lago and has almost certainly been Red-Pilled (Matrix reference).

The major change Zuckerberg is instituting is the removal of so-called fact checkers who were in reality merely left-leaning gatekeepers. They'll be replaced with a form of community notes. This is already been put in place by Musk on 'X' and have been enormously successful in rapidly puncturing erroneous claims. Its a giant leap forward for Meta and free speech generally.

Additionally Zuckerberg is bringing in a few highly placed free speech advocates. When Musk took 'X' he purged it of many of the pro-censorship staff and departments. Zuckerberg's moves will have the same effect.

The world is changing rapidly since the Trump victory not just in geo-political terms but also with a renewed confidence and vigour by the forces of freedom.

I suspect Australia under the current leadership will be left behind, looking around askant as to what is happening. But as Musk taught them and our censorship czar-ess as regards the censorship of the stabbing of Bishop Emmanuel, free speech is an international good and one small free speech antagonistic nation can't stand in its way.