Christians cannot avoid being affected by Mark Zuckerberg plans to ‘dramatically reduce censorship’ across Meta

I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has said to me, “Money is the root of all evil.” I always point out that the quote is actually, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10). The extra words transform the meaning entirely. Add in the second part of the verse and see how the essence of it is illuminated. “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Fact checking and taking the time to quote the authentic Scripture makes all the difference.

My work as a freelance writer demands that I carry out rigorous research and check and recheck my facts.

My work as a freelance writer demands that I carry out rigorous research and check and recheck my facts. I don’t want anyone to be misled by an article I wrote. Clickbait and cheap thrills is not what I’m about. Facts are the building blocks of truth and as a Christian, I have a duty to ensure that I don’t mislead or misquote.

I told my friends about Jesus on Facebook, and this is what happened

Like many others, I was surprised by Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement that his multinational technology company Meta, which owns and operates the social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Instagram, is getting rid of its fact checkers. For now, this is just in the United States, but it is fairly likely to spread to the rest of the world. Speaking on a video message, Meta’s founder announced that he would prioritise free speech once Donald Trump returned to the White House and claimed that up to now, “the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created.” He added that Meta would move over to community notes, the method X (owned by another billionaire businessman) uses to add caveats and context to contentious posts.

I quit social media when the Holy Spirit revealed the damaging way I interacted with it

As Christians, what are we to make of this? Ever since Elon Musk bought X (the former Twitter), there have been complaints about racism, misogyny and offensive content on the platform, which seems to rage, unchecked. Will other platforms go the same way? Zuckerberg admitted that the changes would mean that, “we’re going to catch less bad stuff.”

So let’s be absolutely clear on this, “bad stuff.” Under the new system, Meta will allow users to refer to women as, “property.”

So let’s be absolutely clear on this, “bad stuff.” Under the new system, Meta will allow users to refer to women as, “property.” Multiple changes to the hate speech guidelines include removing rules that forbid insulting a person’s appearance based on religious affiliation, ethnicity, disability, race and caste, amongst others. All of this is very bad news for a lot of people who already feel on the margins of society.

Here’s what Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa, speaking to the AFP news service, thinks. “He [Zuckerberg] says it’s a free speech issue – that’s completely wrong. Only if you’re profit-driven can you claim that; only if you want power and money can you claim that. This will lead to a world without facts.”

Social media could make you miserable and come between you and God, I made one simple change to help my mental and spiritual health

Without fact checking, what happens to truth and compassion and mercy and justice? There are around three billion Meta users worldwide, and there is strength in numbers, but as individuals, how much can we really affect the way social media is going? As always, as followers of Jesus, we return to the real words, not the misquoted or the amended ones.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

If we are to model Jesus to the world in these difficult times, we must buckle on the belt of truth and ensure that the facts we share are of God, and well and truly checked.