Biden calls Meta’s ending of fact-checking programme ‘shameful’

Washington: President Joe Biden criticized Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, on Friday for deciding to abandon its fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram, calling it a “shameful” decision that undermines America’s commitment to telling the truth.

Responding to a question by a reporter, Biden said he believed people in the United States “want to tell the truth.”

Biden told reporters he was concerned about “the idea that, you know, a billionaire can buy something, and say, ‘By the way, from this point on, we’re not going to fact-check anything.’

“And you know,” he added, “when you have millions of people reading, going online, reading this stuff, it is — anyway, I think it’s — I think it’s really shameful.”

The president’s comments came during a news conference on economic issues that was followed by a wide-ranging Q&A session in which Biden defended his policy agenda as his term ends.

The president insisted that he could have beaten President-elect Donald Trump if he had continued to run for reelection but added that he had stepped aside from the race in the belief that it was “important to unify the party.” Biden also defended sanctions imposed on Russia on Friday that he said would hurt President Vladimir Putin’s ability to conduct the war in Ukraine and have a “profound effect” on the nation’s economy.

Asked about preemptive pardons to people whom Trump has threatened with retribution, the president said he would decide based on what the president-elect said and did in the days before the inauguration Jan. 20.

“It depends on some of the language and expectations that Trump broadcasts in the last couple days here as to what he’s going to do,” Biden said. “The idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he thinks should be policies related to his well-being is outrageous. But there’s still consideration of some folks, but nothing — no decision.”

In his remarks about the economy, Biden asserted that his “bottom-up, middle-out” philosophy about growth had worked. He cited economic data released Friday morning that showed stronger-than-expected job growth for the month of December.

The president appeared tired during the Q&A session. He fumbled his words several times and at one point misunderstood a question. Biden was asked about new intelligence reports relating to the Havana syndrome, in which US diplomats have been struck by mysterious brain-related ailments. He answered by casting doubt on the possibility of a connection between Islamic terrorists and the recent attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Asked whether he regretted deciding to run for reelection in the first place, Biden said he did not. He said he had believed that both he and Vice President Kamala Harris could have won the election.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump. And I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump.”

He added: “When the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move, I thought, even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party.”