Ending his fact-checking program in the United States, Mark Zuckerberg makes clear the willingness, even the study, of some big tech company bosses to align with the conservative duo formed by Elon Mask and Donald Trump.

“We’re going back to our roots,” said the head of Meta, who has always refused to see his company as a content-bound press company, preferring to describe it as a distribution network (‘utility’) on Tuesday. ).

No major American tech boss has so far expressed such an unequivocal endorsement of the radical notion of free speech championed by the president-elect and his inseparable multi-billionaire ally, who are hostile to any regulation.

While Donald Trump doesn’t hesitate to attack the media for reporting he doesn’t like, he instead advocates for the free flow of content from his followers on social media that spreads his anti-immigrant and anti-racial rhetoric and his threats against his political opponents.

“For all of us who have been fighting for freedom of expression for years, this gives the impression of a major victory and a turning pointDavid Zacks, an entrepreneur and future advisor to Donald Trump on AI and cryptocurrency issues, expressed his satisfaction to X.

The person, who is close to Elon Musk, welcomed the fact that Meta had “corrected its course”. “Thank you, President Trump, for causing this political and cultural realignment.”

“It makes perfect sense to approach this (Meta) decision from a political point of view,” Ethan Zuckerman, a professor of public policy, communication and information at the University of Massachusetts, told AFP.

He recalls that the company also welcomed Dana White, a martial arts personality and supporter of Donald Trump, to its board of directors.

“However, it is a decision that also serves Zuckerberg’s financial goals: fact-checking is a difficult, expensive and controversial activity,” points out this researcher, who recently sued Meta over the operation of Facebook’s algorithm. .

“Political parties, like social media, thrive on divisiveness, so it shouldn’t surprise us too much that a company like Meta abandons fact-checking,” points out Wendy Schiller, professor of Politics. of Science at Brown University.

Other big names in the field have already expressed, more subtly, their willingness to work with the incoming Trump administration, following the end of a Biden term marked by an often tough tone against tech companies accused of allowing misinformation to spread. and hate speech.

Donald Trump means to attack these businesses and the media in general, who has repeatedly come out against social media, especially after it was temporarily banned by Facebook and Twitter, before the latter was acquired by Elon Musk.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the president-elect said that the Meta boss “probably” reacted to the threats he had made against him.

The Republican chose Brendan Carr, a proponent of technology deregulation, to head the powerful federal communications agency, the FCC.

On November 15, Brendan Carr had called through X to “break up the censorship cartel” that had been formed, according to him, by “Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others”.

A few days ago, cartoonist Anne Telnas announced that she was resigning from the Washington Post after management rejected a cartoon of hers criticizing the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, who is also the head of Amazon, for seeking to “get the favor of Donald Trump”.

Like Mark Zuckerberg, the heads of Google, Amazon and Apple went to meet the Republican at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence.

Donations are also pouring in from the tech sector to fund receptions to mark Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

Among the donors is Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, who said in early December that he has “a pretty deep belief that Elon (Musk) will make the right choices.”

The head of X, SpaceX and Tesla has emerged in recent months as a major figure in the Trump environment, even beyond, after being very actively involved in the election campaign of the former and now the next Republican president of the United States.

“Cool,” she commented after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement, with whom she maintains a stormy relationship.