Misinformation as a Business ModelHow Meta and Musk Endanger Democracy | Opinion [Video]

The recent announcement by Meta to promote profound changes to its content and fact checking policies is shocking and raises critical questions about the future of information regulation.

In an era marked by misinformation and political polarization critics like writer Michael Harriot even state that Mark Zuckerberg “didn’t just announce changes to Meta‘s content moderation policy. He didn’t even announce that Meta’s content policy will change. He announced that his company is willing to help kill people.”

But the decision is not merely ideological; it’s also about business. While ideology plays a role, the core motivation is protecting a business model that thrives on fake news and hatred. Hate sells—or, more accurately, the reaction to it does. It’s the outrage that generates engagement. Additionally, far-right figureheads are often more willing to defend “free speech” when it comes to hateful speech, which in turn eases the burden on social media platforms to moderate content—saving them money.