Meta follows Musk’s lead on censorship — but ad industry keeps its distance from panic
By Seb Joseph and Sam Bradley • January 8, 2025 •
Ivy Liu
Meta is borrowing a page from Elon Musk’s X on free speech and censorship, but advertisers aren’t hitting the panic button — yet.
For now, they’ve brushed off Meta’s decision to scrap its U.S. fact-checking program in favor of a community notes system reminiscent of X’s and to loosen restrictions on contentious topics like immigration and gender identity.
Instead, marketers are in wait-and see mode, hoping for clearer guidance on what content Meta will still police. So far, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has offered them little beyond vague assurances, leaving the details up in the air.
What is clear, though, is that this marks Meta’s most significant shake-up to its political content policies in years, coinciding with Zuckerberg’s apparent effort to mend fences with the incoming Trump administration. In doing so, Zuckerberg is edging closer to Musk’s laissez-faire playbook — hardly surprising, given Musk’s new role as a Trump advisor.
Marketers Digiday spoke to say they understand this political calculus, even if they’re not entirely on board. They are, however, questioning its broader implications for how people communicate on Meta’s platforms. Will reduced censorship and fewer checks on misinformation create a space for open dialogue? Or will it turn these platforms into battlegrounds where the lines between discourse and chaos blur, while heated debates and unchecked narratives thrive?
Critics might call this alarmist, dismissing concerns as resistance to the dismantling of the left-leaning oversight apparatus that has shaped the digital landscape in recent years. Still Musk’s X serves as a cautionary tale. Far from curbing misinformation, the hands-off approach has amplified it, turning his platform into a battleground where truth and fiction clash, with attention — not accuracy — deciding the winner.
“At some point, brands will have to decide if reach is more important than their own alignment with the general sentiment that’s begun to metastasize within these platforms,” said Stephen Beck, founder and CEO of media agency Engine Digital.
When advertisers faced similar concerns on X, those worries snowballed, leading many to pull spending entirely. But Meta is a different beast. Unlike X, Meta has always been commercially driven and seen as a far superior ad platform, making it unlikely advertisers will abandon it as quickly, even if the stakes continue to rise.
“I expect Meta will ensure that the rhetoric is far from what we typically see on X,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior director of marketing & commerce, and tech briefings at eMarketer. “We noticed that when Meta began restricting political ads and ‘issues’ ads — it’s so big that it wants to avoid headaches that aren’t worth it.”
For marketers, those headaches aren’t worth it either. Meta’s scale makes it too valuable to abandon outright, and they’ve long accepted that social media is a messy palace to build brands. What really matters is ensuring their ads are kept away from inappropriate or harmful content. As for the controversial conversations surrounding them? That’s just the cost of doing business in the digital age.
“The question comes down to whether a company’s ads appear alongside offensive content,” said Jim Misener, president of brand consultancy 50,000feet.
This debate, however, may intensify around Threads in the coming months. After all, this “Muskification” of Meta stands in stark contrast to Threads’ original promise. When Threads launched in July 2023, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who oversees Threads, described it as a “less angry space” for sharing ideas. But now, that vision feels increasingly out of reach as Meta’s broader strategy shifts toward Musk’s more volatile model.
“It’s going to fundamentally alter what Threads’ USP was,” said James Kirkham, co-founder of brand consultancy Iconic. “This was the alternative. It was a softer, warmer, more friendly place. The changes that Zuckerberg is talking about [are] definitely going to erode that key differentiator.”
Meta’s pivot toward Musk’s playbook signals the beginning of a new chapter in one of media’s most pertinent narratives — one defined by the erosion of traditional gatekeeping and the rise of platforms that prioritize engagement over accountability.
Call it the Muskification of media: a world where virality trump veracity, and platforms increasingly shape public discourse without the burden of oversight. In this new era, the challenge isn’t just about brand safety for marketers but navigating an increasingly unpredictable environment. They’re having to weigh the value of reach against the risks versus rewards of being associated with platforms that define culture in such uncharted ways.
https://digiday.com/?p=564957
