In early January, Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta was removing restrictions on topics like immigration and gender, allowing for more politicised debate on its platforms and ending its third-party fact-checking program, moving to a Community Notes model.
In his rationale, he attempted to appeal to all 3 elements of our Trust model: Competence, Integrity, and Benevolence.
However, the move was met with widespread (centre/left) criticism, also on grounds of Competence, Integrity, and Benevolence.
Meta’s gamble is that this move will appeal to the Trump administration and win back right-leaning members of the public concerned about bias/censorship on social media, without alienating users or advertisers.
Trump previously branded Facebook ‘an enemy of the people’, but this week gave Zuckerberg a prime seat at his inauguration. The best outcome: a more favourable regulatory environment for Meta’s revenue driving AI products.
Meta already had a trust problem
Even before this latest pivot, something wasn’t working for Meta.
Last year, we conducted Trust Analytics research in three major markets (USA, Germany, UK), examining informed public attitudes towards five major tech brands. Of these, Meta had the lowest trust scores, with the weakest scores in all three domains.
It is possible that Zuckerberg’s pivot will have a positive effect on these scores by showing that the company is responding to concerns on the right and working to improve its performance.
It is also possible that this will do little to change the minds of Meta’s skeptics, while alienating brand trusters. After all, people trust brands whose future behaviour they believe they can predict, and this move will have surprised many.
Integrity reflects whether audiences believe you have strong values, consistently applied. It is often the pillar overlooked by communications strategies, and it is the pillar where Meta performs most poorly.
If you are seen as easily swayed, all audiences may distrust you – even those who support your decision in principle.
Finally, it is worth noting that our latest UK Polarisation Tracker shows that third party fact checkers are among the most trusted sources for all audiences, even among the ‘Super Distruster’ cohort who are more opposed to censorship (below).
Analysis by NewsWhip showed that Meta’s pivot generated significantly more coverage among left-leaning sources, than right-leaning. i.e. Meta animated critics more than it energised supporters.
In terms of audience trust, Meta may have alienated people (and brands) without making many friends.
Our annual cultural trends report, developed in partnership with Savanta, shares the four key trends shaping the world of business, stakeholders and consumers in the year ahead.... Read more
Welcome to our first quarterly ESG insights newsletter of 2025.... Read more