DISTANCING META FROM POLITICS
Regardless of the headlines from Meta about its efforts in AI and {hardware} growth, Meta continues to be primarily a social media firm. Within the third quarter of 2024, 98 per cent of its US$41 billion income got here from promoting income on its social platforms.
Zuckerberg needs to make sure that Meta avoids regulatory scrutiny and stays advertiser-friendly. The easiest way to do it’s to avoid selling political content material.
Earlier than Meta’s determination to finish its fact-checking efforts, Zuckerberg wrote a letter to the US Committee on the Judiciary highlighting his want to distance Meta and himself from politics, as a result of notion that the corporate’s content material moderation insurance policies “benefited one occasion over the opposite”.
Zuckerberg appears to be creating a brand new narrative for customers concerning what content material they need to count on from his firm. His message is easy: Meta apps are constructed for individuals to share their spotlight reels, work together with pals and have enjoyable.
As such, Zuckerberg is convincing customers to cease seeing Meta’s social apps as platforms for political debate and as a substitute as platforms for leisure, thereby decreasing advertisers’ issues about regulatory dangers.
That is maybe finest illustrated by his appointment of Dana White, the CEO of the worldwide MMA firm UFC, to his board. On the one hand, it’s a strategic transfer undertaken by Zuckerberg to higher align with the incoming US president Trump, as White is one in every of his most influential political allies.
Then again, White’s inclusion in Meta’s board marks its first inclusion of a company chief from the leisure industry- signalling a push to make their social apps’ expertise extra entertaining.
To this point, Zuckerberg’s rebrand has labored like a allure. The remark sections of his Instagram posts, beforehand laden with offended accusations and critiques, at the moment are full of athletes, entertainers and followers making light-hearted jokes about him or Meta’s merchandise.
