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Alameda Post Assures Readers of Fact-Checking Policies Amid Meta Announcement

On the eve of the second Trump administration, we at the Alameda Post feel it’s an appropriate time to talk about misinformation (read Publisher Adam Gillitt’s editorial on the subject here).

Alameda Post - Kelsey Goeres
Kelsey Goeres. Photo Eric Yang.

On Tuesday January 7, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a video announcing changes to the technology company that “it’s time to get back to our roots around free expression.” These changes include no longer using third-party fact-checkers on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. The fact-checking program was instituted originally as a device to combat misinformation spread on social media platforms.

Now the tech giant is leaving the responsibility up to its users in order to take a more personalized approach to political content.



Another change includes shedding some of the rules protecting LGBTQ people from potentially harmful rhetoric and lifting restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender.

These changes might seem familiar to what happened at Twitter, now known as X, when key Trump advisor Elon Musk took over. Echoing Musk’s early involvement with Trump, after Zuckerberg dined at Mar-a-Lago in November, Meta donated $1 million to support Trump’s inauguration. In a recent interview, Trump responded “probably” when asked if Zuckerberg is “directly responding to the threats you’ve made to him in the past [life in prison]” with the new Meta changes.

According to the Pew Research Center, 54% of U.S. adults say they sometimes get news from social media, with about a third of U.S. adults saying they regularly get news from Facebook and YouTube.

At this time, we want to assure our readers that our fact-checking process and expectations remain the same.

On a personal note, I went to school to study journalism because I so deeply believe in the importance of keeping people educated on the goings-on of their environment, culture, and government. I believe that journalism is part of the checks and balances that are necessary for our society to run. I still recall the classes I took in which I learned with great reverence of the legalities and ethics required to be a professional journalist.

Since 2016 in particular, there’s been a growing distrust in the media, specifically with the notion of “fake news.” I can’t speak for every news organization, but I can tell you as Managing Editor of the Alameda Post, I make fact-checking a priority. We vet our sources and quote them accurately, we review and re-review relevant documents, we cite reputable references when we need more information. Of course, our team is filled with dedicated, real-life humans who can, occasionally, make mistakes, as is the case in every newsroom around the world. You can read about our corrections policy here. But it is with great care and fulfillment that we diligently aim to bring you the news that’s important and factual.

So if you are one of the 54% of U.S. adults who sometimes get their news from social media (we post every article to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Reddit, Mastodon, and Nextdoor), know that you can trust articles and information posted by the Post.

Kelsey Goeres is the Managing Editor of the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Kelsey-Goeres.


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All opinions expressed on this page are the author's alone and do not reflect those of the Alameda Post, nor does our organization endorse any views the author may present. Our objective as an independent news source is to fully reflect our community's varied opinions without giving preference to a particular viewpoint.

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