Meta ends fact-checking program
Meta will stop using third-party fact checkers on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. Instead, it relies on users adding notes to potentially false or misleading posts, similar to the system used in X. Follow the live broadcast.
The reversal is a clear sign of how Meta is repositioning itself toward President Trump, and few other large companies are so overtly trying to win support. The company recently alerted Trump administration officials about the changes, according to people familiar with the conversations. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said yesterday that Meta has added Dana White, head of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a longtime friend of Trump, to its board of directors. .
Zuckerberg said the transition would begin in the United States in the coming months.
“It’s time to go back to the roots of freedom of expression,” he said, adding that the current system “has reached the point of too many mistakes and excessive censorship.” He acknowledged that there would be more “malicious content” on the platform as a result of the decision, saying this was a “trade-off” that would result in fewer “innocent people’s posts” being removed. Ta.
reaction: The move appears to have pleased Trump. At a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect said Mehta “has come a long way.” He also acknowledged that the change was “probably” a result of threats he made against Mehta and Zuckerberg. His conservative allies immediately welcomed the decision. Many of them felt that they were unfairly targeted by the program. Several digital rights groups condemned the decision.
At least 126 people killed in Tibet earthquake
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Dingli County in western China yesterday, near one of Tibet’s most historic cities, killing at least 126 people. At least 188 people were injured. The quake was the country’s deadliest since December 2023, when a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck northwestern Gansu and Qinghai provinces, killing 151 people.
Chinese state television said at least 1,000 homes were damaged and rescue efforts were hampered by logistical difficulties. The region’s remote location along the Himalayan border with Nepal made it difficult to deliver resources. Temperatures in the area reached as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius), and rescue workers had little time to find survivors.
U.S. officials say genocide occurred in Sudan
The United States yesterday declared that the militia Rapid Support Forces and its allies committed genocide in Sudan in their fight against the Sudanese army. The wave of violence occurred in western Darfur, where men, boys and infants were targeted and killed, and women raped on an “ethnic basis”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The genocide decision came after months of government deliberations during which authorities considered the merits of the case. The verdict could prompt a new push for accountability in Africa’s deadliest war, which has killed up to 150,000 people.
Other top news
Snakes compete for many of the same resources and spaces as humans, often with disastrous results. Approximately 120,000 people die each year from venomous snakes, most of which occur in parts of Africa where people live far from clinics and too poor to receive proper treatment.
This problem was largely ignored until recently, but scientists are now trying to quantify it more precisely. read more.
Life lived: Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s modern far-right political movement and inspiration for the mob, has died at the age of 96.
Peter Yarrow of the folk trio Peter Paul & Mary, known for hits such as “Puff the Magic Dragon,” has died at the age of 86.
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Celebrate Austin’s England (and birthday)
Author Jane Austen would have turned 250 this year, and there are many celebrations throughout the year in south-west England. Austen spent her most prolific years as a novelist in idyllic Hampshire, where her holiday home is now a museum.
Austin’s former home is just one of our travel desk favorites this year. Its list of “52 Places to Visit in 2025” also includes India’s Assam state, with its tea plantations and pyramids, and Angola, with its beaches and sacred waterfalls. On Thailand’s Koh Samui, fans of the show “White Lotus” can walk through the sandy beaches and jungles where the next season was filmed.
