DISTANCING META FROM POLITICS
Regardless of the headlines from Meta about its efforts in AI and {hardware} growth, Meta remains 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. One of the best ways to do it’s to avoid selling political content material.
Earlier than Meta’s resolution 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 social gathering over the opposite”.
Zuckerberg appears to be creating a brand new narrative for customers concerning what content material they need to anticipate from his firm. His message is straightforward: Meta apps are constructed for folks to share their spotlight reels, work together with mates 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 lowering advertisers’ issues about regulatory dangers.
That is maybe greatest 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.
Alternatively, 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 date, Zuckerberg’s rebrand has labored like a attraction. The remark sections of his Instagram posts, beforehand laden with offended accusations and critiques, are actually stuffed with athletes, entertainers and followers making light-hearted jokes about him or Meta’s merchandise.
