It seems Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s promises to reform his anti-free speech attitude were short-lived. The company announced its newest partnership to censor supposed “misinformation.”

Zuckerberg recently admitted guilt and regret for his company’s election interference and unjustified censorship, particularly at the government’s behest in 2020. Yet Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp) has now announced its partnership with Japanese fact checker Litmus, a member of the Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). IFCN’s parent has received funding from radical leftist billionaire George Soros in the past, a fact that has never held Meta back from using IFCN as an accreditor for its allegedly third-party independent fact-checking partners.

In a Sept. 2 blog post, Meta proudly revealed its new partnership with Litmus. A Google Translate translation of the Japanese language blog declared it was launching “a third-party fact-checking program in Japan as part of further efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.” 

Litmus is the “first fact-checking media” in Japan and will supposedly assess the “accuracy of information” on Meta’s platforms, according to the Meta blog post.

Nicole Han, Meta’s Strategic Partner Development Manager, celebrated the company’s continued censorship efforts in the blog. “Meta is always committed to preventing the spread of misinformation on the platform, and we understand the value of partnering with local experts to do so,” Han stated. This appears in direct contradiction to Zuckerberg’s seemingly insincere letter in August.

Meta bragged that its fact-checking program has expanded since 2016 to around a hundred organizations for over 60 languages globally.

The platform added that, “This time, we will partner with Litmus … for the first time and develop this program. Litmus is recognized as a member of the International Fact Check Network (IFCN), a neutral coalition of fact-check media around the world,” though Litmus has not yet renewed its membership for this new fiscal year. Meta added, “All of Meta's fact-checking partners are accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) … or the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN).” But IFCN is anything but neutral.

Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) gaveIFCN’s parent Poynter Institute $492,000 in grants between 2016 and 2019. Shockingly, IFCN specifically prioritized “facts” over free speech in April, and IFCN’s PolitiFact was exposed by MRC that same month for going all in on protecting President Joe Biden, then the Democrat presidential candidate. Meta apparently avoided any mention of Poynter in its blog post.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact Meta here and demand that it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.