Month: January 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Monday imposed sanctions on an extreme right-wing online network, designating the “Terrorgram” collective a terrorist group and accusing it of promoting violent white supremacy. 

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it had designated the group, which primarily operates on the Telegram social media site, and three of its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. 

The State Department said the group has motivated and facilitated attacks and attempted attacks by users, including a 2022 shooting outside an LGBTQ bar in Slovakia, a planned attack in 2024 on energy facilities in New Jersey and an August knife attack at a mosque in Turkey. 

“The group promotes violent white supremacism, solicits attacks on perceived adversaries, and provides guidance and instructional materials on tactics, methods, and targets for attacks, including on critical infrastructure and government officials,” the State Department said. 

The action freezes any of the group’s U.S. assets and bars Americans from dealing with it. 

The leaders targeted on Monday with sanctions were based in Brazil, Croatia and South Africa, according to the statement. 

In September, U.S. prosecutors unveiled criminal charges against two alleged leaders of the group, saying they used Telegram to solicit attacks on Black, Jewish, LGBTQ people and immigrants with the aim of inciting a race war. 

Britain in April said it would proscribe the Terrorgram collective as a terrorist organization, meaning it would become a criminal offense in the country to belong to or promote the group. 

U.S. President Joe Biden has railed against white supremacy while in office. 

In 2021, Biden launched the first-ever U.S. National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, which included resources to identify and prosecute threats and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups.
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President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Trade Commission has vowed to continue the agency’s drive to break up Big Tech monopolies while adding a new focus: free speech. VOA’s Matt Dibble has the story.
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— The Biden administration announced Monday new restrictions on the export of the most advanced artificial intelligence chips and proprietary parameters used to govern the interactions of users with AI systems.

The rule, which will undergo a 120-day period for public comments, comes in response to what administration officials described as a need to protect national security while also clarifying the rules under which companies in trusted partner countries could access the emerging technology in order to promote innovation.

“Over the coming years, AI will become really ubiquitous in every business application in every industry around the world, with enormous potential for enhanced productivity and societal, healthcare and economic benefits,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters. “That being said, as AI becomes more powerful, the risks to our national security become even more intense.”

A senior administration official said the new rule will not include any restrictions on chip sales to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom or the United States.

Countries that are under U.S. arms embargoes are already subject to export restrictions on advanced AI chips, but a senior administration official said they will now be under restrictions for the transfer of the most powerful closed weight AI models.

The weights in an AI model determine how it processes the inputs from a user and determines what to provide the user as a response, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In a closed weight system, those parameters are secret, unlike with an open weight system in which users could see the settings the model is using to make its decisions.

The majority of countries — those not included in the close partner or arms embargo lists — will not face licensing requirements for obtaining the equivalent of 1,700 of the most advanced AI chips currently available, nor for any less advanced chips.

Companies in the United States and allied countries will not face restrictions in using the most powerful closed weight AI systems, provided they are stored under adequate security, a senior administration official said.

“I think the key point I would underscore is that we identified really some of the closest security allies of the United States that have effectively implemented and have a well-documented record of upholding a robust AI technology protection regime, and generally have technology ecosystems that promote the use of AI and other advanced technologies consistent with our national security and foreign policy interests,” a senior administration official said.
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jerusalem — When a renowned Israeli TV journalist lost his ability to speak clearly because of ALS, he thought his career might be over. But now, using artificial-intelligence software that can re-create his widely recognized gravelly voice, Moshe Nussbaum — known to generations of viewers simply as “Nussi” — is making a comeback. 

Nussbaum, 71, was diagnosed two years ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease that attacks nerve cells that control muscles throughout the body. 

At the time, he vowed to viewers of Israel’s Channel 12 News to continue working as long as he was physically able. But, gradually, it became more and more difficult. 

It was a devastating blow to the career of a leading, no-nonsense reporter who for more than 40 years had covered many of Israel’s most important stories from the field. He had appeared from the scenes of suicide bombing attacks and the front lines of wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and had covered scandals in Israel’s parliament and high-profile court cases. 

After Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war in Gaza, Nussbaum was unable to report from the field. It was the first war of his career he had ever sat out, he noted in a recent interview with colleagues at Channel 12, the country’s largest station. 

Even though he was having trouble moving and speaking, he launched a segment interviewing injured soldiers from Israeli hospitals. His questions were slow and halting, but he kept it up for the first half of the war. Then, as it became increasingly difficult to speak, and to be understood, his interviews became less frequent. 

On Monday, Channel 12 made the surprising announcement that it would bring Nussbaum back to the air in the coming weeks as a commentator— with the help of AI. 

“It took me a few moments to absorb it and to understand that it is me speaking now,” Nussbaum told The Associated Press via text message. “Slowly, slowly, I’m understanding the incredible meaning of this device for everyone with disabilities, including me.” 

Nussbaum will report his stories, and then write them up, using an AI program that has been trained to speak using Nussbaum’s voice. He will be filmed as if he were presenting, and his lips will be “technologically adjusted” to match the words. 

Mimicking intonation, phrasing

People with speech disorders have used traditional text-to-speech technology for years, but those voices sound robotic and flat, and lack emotion. In contrast, AI technology is trained using recordings of a person’s voice — there are thousands of hours of Nussbaum speaking thanks to his lengthy career in TV and radio — and it can mimic their intonations and phrasing. 

Thrilled by the possibilities the technology affords him, Nussbaum said he is also worried about the ease with which the technology could be used by bad actors to spread fake news and falsehoods. 

In its current form, the technology will not work for live broadcasts, so Nussbaum won’t be able to go out into the field, which is his favorite part of the job, he said. Instead, he will focus on commentary and analysis about crime and national security, his areas of expertise for decades. 

Ahead of the broadcasts, Channel 12 released a preview showing snippets of Nussbaum speaking naturally — garbled and difficult to understand — followed by the new “Nussi AI.” The new version sounds strikingly like the old Nussbaum, speaking quickly and emphatically. Nussbaum was filmed as if he was presenting the report, sitting straight with his trademark bushy eyebrows moving up and down for emphasis. 

“Honestly, this is my first time sitting here in the studio after more than a year,” AI Nussbaum says in the preview. “It feels a bit strange, and mostly, it tugs my heart.” 

AI-powered voice cloning has grown exponentially in recent years. Experts have warned that the technology can amplify phone scams, disrupt democratic elections and violate the dignity of people — living or dead — who never consented to having their voices re-created to say things they never said. 

It’s been used to produce deepfake robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden. In the U.S., authorities recently charged a high school athletic director with using AI to generate a fake audio clip of the school’s principal making racist remarks. 

But the technology also has tremendous potential to help people who have lost their ability to speak clearly. A U.S. congresswoman who cannot speak because of complications from Parkinson’s disease and a related palsy has used a similar AI program to give a speech on the House floor, and the technology has also helped a young woman who lost her voice because of a tumor. 

Channel 12 declined to say which AI program it was using. 

Nussbaum had worried that ALS would rob him of the career he loved. In an interview with Channel 12, he recounted telling his managers not to “feel like you’re pitying me, doing me a favor. The day you come to the conclusion that this is it — tell me. I’ll know how to accept it without a problem.” 

He calls his new AI-enabled persona a “magic trick” that enabled his comeback, and he believes it will raise awareness in Israel of ways that people with disabilities — especially progressive disabilities — can continue to work. 

“The fact that Channel 12 and my news managers are allowing me to reinvent myself anew, that is one of the most important medicines I can get in my fight with this disease,” he said.
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WASHINGTON — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer chips in Arizona for U.S. customers, a milestone in the Biden administration’s semiconductor efforts, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters.

In November, the Commerce Department finalized a $6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s U.S. unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona.

“For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading-edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo told Reuters in an interview, saying it had begun in recent weeks.

“That’s a big deal — never been done before, never in our history. And lots of people said it couldn’t happen,” Raimondo said of the previously undisclosed production start.

A spokesperson for TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia, which reports earnings next week, declined to comment Friday.

In April, TSMC agreed to expand its planned investment by $25 billion to $65 billion and to add a third Arizona production facility by 2030.

Congress created a $52.7 billion semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program in 2022. Commerce persuaded all five leading-edge semiconductor firms to locate production facilities in the United States as part of the program.

Raimondo told Reuters earlier that Commerce had to persuade TSMC to boost its U.S. plans.

“It didn’t happen on its own. … We had to convince TSMC that they would want to expand,” Raimondo said.

TSMC will produce the world’s most advanced 2-nanometer technology at its second Arizona factory, expected to begin production in 2028. TSMC also agreed to use its most advanced chip manufacturing technology, called “A16,” in Arizona.

The TSMC award from Commerce also includes up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans.

Raimondo wants the United States to make 20% of world’s leading-edge logic chips by 2030 — up from the 0% before TSMC began production in Arizona.

In April, Commerce said TSMC expects to begin high-volume production in its first U.S. fab by the first half of 2025.

Last month, Commerce finalized an award of $407 million to help fund Amkor Technology’s planned $2 billion advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Arizona, which is set to be the largest of its kind in the U.S.

When fully operational, Amkor’s Arizona plant will package and test millions of chips for autonomous vehicles, 5G/6G and data centers. Apple will be its first and largest customer, with the chips produced at a nearby TSMC facility.
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Technology companies, industry executives and entrepreneurs are in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week for CES, the consumer electronics show featuring the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, vehicle technology, robotics and more. Tina Trinh reports from Las Vegas.
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WASHINGTON — Russia’s efforts to obtain China’s help in enhancing artificial intelligence is seen as a bid to challenge America’s lead in the field even as the outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose new export control measures to further curb Beijing’s access to AI chips.

As the new year began, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s state-owned Sberbank, to work with China in researching and developing AI technology, according to the Kremlin.

“The Russian president sees his country in global competition for AI with the United States and has positioned the state resources to try and compete with the U.S. in information and cyberspace – two areas where artificial intelligence is supposed to aid Russia in what they see as Western narratives and influence,” said Samuel Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Moscow views Beijing’s success in AI as an example to follow, and its “cooperation with China is viewed as a necessary step towards acquiring artificial intelligence-related skill sets, knowledge and technology,” Bendett told VOA in written comments.

The U.S. currently leads in AI innovation, followed by China, which is falling behind by wide margins, according to a November report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries in AI implementation, innovation and investment, according to U.K.-based Tortoise Media’s Global AI Index.

Response to sanctions

Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have limited the country’s AI development, and Moscow has turned to Beijing to offset the restriction, according to Bendett in his report “The Role of AI in Russia’s Confrontation with the West.”

Sberbank, which Putin instructed to collaborate with China, is under Western sanctions.

It is Russia’s largest bank and leads the country’s AI development efforts.

The outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose a new set of export control measures aimed at further limiting China’s ability to access chips that support AI technology. The new measures could come as early as Friday, according to Bloomberg.

Sberbank CEO German Gref said in 2023 that Russia cannot obtain graphics processing units, microchips needed to support AI development, according to Reuters.

But the bank’s first deputy CEO, Alexander Vedyakhin, said in December that despite Western sanctions, Russia can improve its AI ranking by 2030 through its own development.

Another key area where Russia has sought to further apply AI help from China is in the military.

“There already have been top level meetings between Russia and Chinese militaries in 2024,” and “ongoing dialogue” between the defense ministries of the two countries is likely so they can understand “how AI could aid in a large-scale conventional conflict, like the one unfolding in Ukraine,” Bendett said.

Russian and Chinese officials met in Beijing early last year to discuss military application of AI, especially in developing autonomous weapons, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

AI-powered weapons

In December, Ukraine said Russia began using AI-powered strike drones with improved capabilities that can evade air defenses, identify key targets and operate offline.

James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia is likely to use AI technology on enhancing drones as well as in making weapons with improved target detection and attack speed.

The China-Russia AI partnership “creates new risk for the U.S.,” but military application of “AI won’t compensate for bad strategy” in the battlefield, he said.

Attending an AI conference in Moscow last month, Song Haitao, president of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said China plans to sign an agreement with Russia’s Sberbank to promote bilateral cooperation on AI development.

Speaking at the conference, Putin applauded China for “making great strides” in advancing AI technology and its application, including in building “smart cities” and conducting “modern governance.”

Sam Bresnick, research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said although it is not entirely clear how Beijing might benefit from helping Moscow in developing AI, China might want some military technologies and wartime data from Russia in return.

“Russia is very good at making submarines, and there’s been a speculation in the past that China could benefit from acquiring that kind of technology. Another one is helicopter technology,” Bresnick said.

“The war in Ukraine has generated an astonishing amount of data,” Bresnick continued. “China would probably be interested in getting its hands on them because having more militarily relevant data from Russia would help China develop its own AI systems for military.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “in terms of the application of artificial intelligence, China actively advocates the principles of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘intelligent for good,’ ensuring that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable and controllable, better enabling global sustainable development, and enhancing the common well-being of all mankind.” 
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LAS VEGAS — So much of the technology showcased at CES includes gadgets made to improve consumers’ lives — whether by leveraging AI to make devices that help people become more efficient, by creating companions to cure loneliness, or by providing tools that help people with mental and physical health. 

But not all innovation is good, according to a panel of self-described dystopia experts that has judged some products as “Worst in Show.” The award that no company wants to win calls out the “least repairable, least private, and least sustainable products on display.” 

“We’re seeing more and more of these things that have basically surveillance technology built into them, and it enables some cool things,” Liz Chamberlain, director of sustainability at the e-commerce site iFixit told The Associated Press. “But it also means that now we’ve got microphones and cameras in our washing machines, refrigerators and that really is an industry-wide problem.” 

The fourth annual contest announced its decisions Thursday. 

A new smart ring every few years? 

Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, awarded the Ultrahuman Rare Luxury Smart Ring the title of “least repairable.” 

The rings, which come in colors like dune and desert sand, cost $2,200. Wiens said the jewelry “looks sleek but hides a major flaw: its battery only lasts 500 charges.” Worse, he said, is the fact that replacing the battery is impossible without destroying the device entirely. 

“Luxury items may be fleeting, but two years of use for $2,200 is a new low,” he said. 

Ultrahuman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

An AI-powered smart crib? 

Bosch’s “Revol” crib uses sensors, cameras and AI that the company says can help monitor vital signs like how an infant is sleeping, heart and respiratory rates and more. The crib can also rock gently if the baby needs help falling asleep and signal to parents if a blanket or other object is interfering with breathing. 

EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn said the crib preys on parents’ fears and “collects excessive data about babies via a camera, microphone, and even a radar sensor.” 

“Parents expect safety and comfort — not surveillance and privacy risks — in their children’s cribs,” she said in the report. 

A spokesperson for Bosch told The Associated Press that all data is encrypted end-to-end and stored on Bosch-administered servers, “while all data at rest is secured locally with individual data encryption keys.” 

“Caregivers have the final say on whether data is transmitted at all. The Revol has an offline mode, which keeps data local if preferred,” the spokesperson said, adding that the smart crib helps keep children safe. 

Too much waste? 

Although AI is everywhere at CES, Stacey Higginbotham, a policy Fellow at Consumer Reports, felt that SoundHound AI’s In-Car Commerce Ecosystem, powered by its Automotive AI, pushes it to unnecessary extremes. 

The feature “increases energy consumption, encourages wasteful takeout consumption and distracts drivers — all while adding little value,” Higginbotham said. That landed the in-car system as “least sustainable” on the list. 

Soundhound AI’s platform allows drivers and passengers to order takeout for pick-up directly from the car’s infotainment system. The company did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement Tuesday, Keyvan Mohajer, CEO of SoundHound AI, said the product’s launch marks a moment “decades in the making.” 

“What begins here with food and restaurants will ultimately open up a whole new commercial ecosystem for vehicle and device manufacturers everywhere,” he said. 

Vulnerable to hacking? 

TP-Link’s Archer BE900 router won for “least secure” of CES. The company is a top-selling router brand in the U.S. But its products are vulnerable to hacking, said Paul Roberts, founder of The Security Ledger. 

“By Chinese law, TP-Link must report security flaws to the government before alerting the public, creating a significant national security risk,” he said. “Yet TP-Link showcased its Archer BE900 router at CES without addressing these vulnerabilities.” 

In an email response, TP-Link Systems contested the report. 

“TP-Link Systems Inc. is a U.S.-headquartered company and does not provide any such security reporting to China as referenced by iFixit,” the company said. “TP-Link Systems has a secure, vertically-integrated, and U.S.-owned international supply chain. Nearly all products sold in the United States are manufactured in Vietnam.” 

TP-Link said it controls its own supply chains, and “is constantly assessing potential risks to its U.S. operations, customers, and supply chain,” adding that it acknowledges that vulnerabilities exist across the industry. 

“However, contrary to claims of widespread vulnerabilities, comparative data places TP-Link on par with, or in some cases ahead of, other major industry players in terms of security outcomes,” the company said. 

Who asked for this? 

The awards also feature a category called “who asked for this?” Top of that list was Samsung’s Bespoke AI Washing Machine, which Nathan Proctor, senior director of U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, said is filled “with features no one needs,” including the ability to make phone calls. 

“These add-ons only make the appliance more expensive, fragile, and harder to repair,” he said. 

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment. 

At a press conference at CES Tuesday, Jong-Hee Han, vice chairman of Samsung’s device experience division, said that he was “proud of how we have introduced new technologies and intelligence to the home, connected key devices and set the standard for the home of the future.” 

“We are reinforcing our commitment to delivering personalized experiences through our widespread implementation of AI and we will continue this journey of AI leadership in the home and beyond, not just for the next decade, but for the next century,” he said. 

Worst overall 

Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, called the LG “AI Home Inside 2.0 Refrigerator with ThinkQ” the worst product overall. The fridge adds “flashy features,” Gordon-Byrne said, including a screen and internet connection. 

“But these come at a cost,” Gordon-Byrne said. “Shorter software support, higher energy consumption, and expensive repairs reduce the fridge’s practical lifespan, leaving consumers with an expensive, wasteful gadget.” 

LG did not respond to a request for comment.
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The United States Supreme Court has fast-tracked oral arguments on a challenge by the Chinese company ByteDance — the owner of TikTok — to a new law that would ban the social media platform on grounds of national security. VOA’s Steve Herman reports.
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OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that there would be a wider range of speech on Facebook and other Meta platforms.

“We’re going to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” he said.

Here are some of the key changes:

Gone will be third-party fact-checkers eyeing Facebook posts for violations in the United States. Instead, Facebook will rely on “community notes,” a system used on X (formerly Twitter) that allows community members to flag posts and vote on the legitimacy of them.

Restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender identity will be lifted.

“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far. So, I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Civic and political content, which the company stopped presenting to users in recent years, will be recommended again on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

And the firm’s trust and safety and content moderation teams will move from California, considered a liberal state, to Texas, considered a conservative-leaning state. The move “will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams,” he said.

Preparing for Trump

Zuckerberg’s announcement comes as Meta and other technology companies prepare for major policy and regulatory changes with the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House this month.

In his attacks on the dominant technology companies, known collectively as Big Tech, Trump has been particularly critical of Meta, which suspended his account in 2021 after the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. His accounts were restored in 2023.

At a press conference Tuesday, Trump was asked about Zuckerberg’s announcement.

“Honestly, I think they’ve come a long way,” he said. He said the firm was “probably” responding to his threats that he had planned to do something about Big Tech and censorship.

Reactions mixed

“This is cool,” Elon Musk said of the Meta announcement. Musk bought Twitter in 2023 and renamed it X and is a close adviser to Trump.

X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino said on X that “fact-checking and moderation doesn’t belong in the hands of a few select gatekeepers who can easily inject their bias into decisions. It’s a democratic process that belongs in the hands of many.”

Also on X, Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, praised Zuckerberg’s announcement as a “huge step in the right direction.”

“Social media, AI, and other technology companies must resist governments’ censorship pressure and instead work to ensure the open expression of ideas on their platforms,” Jordan posted. “We hope that other Big Tech companies, including Google, follow the lead of X and Meta in upholding freedom of speech online.”

Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor of human-centered design and engineering, said on the social media site Bluesky that Meta’s decision will hamper people’s ability to find out the truth.

“One remaining concern for me is that even people who WANT to find accurate information are going to be challenged to do it, because we’re going to lose the groups that do this fact-checking work — unless non-profits step in to fill what is going to be a huge funding gap,” she posted.

Yoel Roth, a former head of Twitter’s trust and safety department, said on Bluesky that he was “genuinely baffled by the unempirical assertion that Community Notes ‘works.’ Does it? How do Meta know? The best available research is pretty mixed on this point.”

‘Too many mistakes’

In his statement Tuesday, Zuckerberg described a complex system of filters the company created to identify “legitimately bad stuff out there. Drugs, terrorism, child exploitation.”

But the systems, while well-intentioned, made mistakes, resulting in wrongly censored postings, he said.

“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” he said.

The company will be “dialing back” content filters that scanned for policy violations with the goal to “dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said in a separate statement that “too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do.”

Biden ‘repeatedly pressured’

Without offering examples, Zuckerberg said in August that the U.S. government under the Biden administration pushed for censorship. In August, Zuckerberg said in a letter to Jordan that Biden officials “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to take down some COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.

“By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. “But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I’m excited to take it.”
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Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the U.S. and replacing it with a “Community Notes” system similar to that on Elon Musk-owned X, the Facebook parent said on Tuesday.  

The Community Notes model will allow users on Meta’s social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and need more context, rather than placing the responsibility on independent fact checking organizations and experts.  

“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how … A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,” Meta said.  

Meta added that its efforts over the years to manage content across its platforms have expanded “to the point where we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable.” 

The company said it would begin phasing in Community Notes in the United States over the next couple of months and would improve the model over the course of the year. 

It will also stop demoting fact-checked content and use a label notifying users there is additional information related to the post, instead of the company’s current method of displaying full-screen warnings that users have to click through before even viewing the post.  
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