Irish Examiner view: Meta chooses revenue over responsibility

End of fact-checking programme

Mark Zuckerberg dined at the Trump estate in Mar-a-Lago in November, and Meta has donated to the Trump inauguration fund. 

On Tuesday, Meta — the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — announced that it would end its fact-checking programme, which was originally introduced to curtail the spread of misinformation across its social media apps. 

Meta said that it would rely on users to correct false or inaccurate posts.

“It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression,” said Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, adding: “It means that we’re going to catch less bad stuff, but we’ll also reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down.”

Most observers view this move as an overt effort to find favour with incoming US president Donald Trump.

Zuckerberg dined at the Trump estate in Mar-a-Lago in November, and Meta has donated to the Trump inauguration fund. 

In the past, Trump has accused social media companies of censoring conservative voices — but this week’s announcement strongly suggests that restraint and responsibility are about to be abandoned by Meta.

The announcement comes almost five years to the day when supporters of Trump stormed the US Capitol, resulting in several deaths.

A Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, subsequently alleged that Facebook “had misled investors and the public about its role perpetuating misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and January 6 insurrection”.

The Meta announcement should also be seen in the light of another development this week, the resignation of Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes after one of her cartoons was spiked. 

The cartoon showed executives like Zuckerberg and Post owner Jeff Bezos presenting Trump with bags of money.

When Bezos ended the Washington Post tradition of endorsing presidential candidates last year, that too was seen as an attempt to curry favour with Trump — or at least not alienating him by endorsing his opponent Kamala Harris.

These developments should be recognised for what they are: Craven attempts by billionaires to ingratiate themselves with fellow billionaires.

Meta’s announcement is a shameless abdication of responsibility in favour of revenue, and the Washington Post’s decision is a shameful betrayal of a newspaper’s fundamental obligations.

Sense of community in the cold snap

The cold snap continues and looks likely to be with us for some days yet, with many of the warnings issued earlier in the week still in force. 

Many are working from home out of necessity, and schools are opening later or are closed in many parts of the country. 

The number of households without power and water is falling steadily, which is to the credit of everyone working tirelessly in trying conditions to restore those vital services.

The unstinting work of volunteers in the worst-affected areas has also been notable over the last few days. 

As reported here earlier in the week, parts of North Cork, Clare, Tipperary, Kerry, and Limerick have been hit hard by snow and ice — but local communities were swift to respond.

Farmers have been out in their tractors helping to clear local roads so food deliveries could get through, and to keep Meals on Wheels services running in their areas. 

As instanced here, Limerick farmer Tom O’Sullivan, of Ardpartrick, towed a SuperValu articulated truck into Charleville where road conditions were described as near impassable.

Roads being gritted in Newmarket, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Elsewhere in North Cork, farmers cleared the carpark and local roads to and from Duhallow Community Food Services in Newmarket to make sure volunteers could deliver hot meals to approximately 250 elderly people in the area. 

Powers Pharmacy in Kilfinane, Limerick, had a struggle to open its doors after heavy snow, but still offered to deliver prescriptions to elderly customers in the area unable to visit the pharmacy because of the snow and ice.

These individuals and businesses deserve huge credit for what they have done on behalf of their neighbours and friends. 

It sometimes takes an event such as the recent bad weather — or the response by generous, civic-spirited people to that weather, to be more precise — to show that there is still a genuine sense of community in Ireland. 

That sense of community should be recognised and nurtured.

Earlier the better for coffee

When it comes to cost-benefit analyses, few items in our daily lives are targeted as much as the daily cup of coffee.

A hardy annual feature for many media outlets consists of focusing on how much a daily cup of coffee costs an individual when that cost is projected out over an entire year — and then chiding the reader for the car, holiday, or house they might have afforded if money hadn’t been wasted on all those cortados and cappuccinos.

Of course, the traditional sequel is a feature the following day which stresses the mental health benefits of taking a break every day for a coffee, either to socialise with friends or to enjoy one’s own company.

Now, a study finds significant health benefits for coffee drinkers — if they imbibe in the morning. 

A study has found significant health benefits for coffee drinkers — if they imbibe in the morning. 

Researchers at Tulane University tracked the health and nutrition habits of more than 40,000 people for almost a decade, and found that those who drank coffee before midday enjoyed better health than those who drank coffee all day.

Morning coffee drinkers involved in the study were 16% less likely to have died, compared with those who drank no coffee, and were 31% less likely to have died from heart disease. 

That latte looks like a good investment based on those figures — if you have it before noon.