Australians will be exposed to more abuse, trolling and the ugly underbelly of the internet as Facebook and Instagram abandon specialist fact-checking services, experts warn.
Others are hailing the move as a win for anti-censorship proponents.
Meta announced on Wednesday it would scrap its third-party fact-checking program, starting in the United States, over concerns it hampers free speech.
It will instead adopt the crowdsourced fact-checking model used by Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
Digital marketing agency founder Sabri Suby, who appeared as an investor on the television show Shark Tank, said removing the muzzle would change the algorithm.
"All of us are going to see different content," he said.
"This is a move to have the internet more aligned with what it was designed to be, which is to allow for free speech.
"And yes, there is certainly an ugly underbelly that will no doubt open up a whole lot of negativity but that is also the world we live in."
The change, made a fortnight out from US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, is no surprise to news and political communication expert Emma Briant.
"With at least 13 billionaires in his new administration, including big tech oligarchs like Musk, Trump has sent a powerful message across America's wealthy right-wing elite - now is your time, not their's," the Monash University associate professor said.
"Clearly (Meta boss) Mark Zuckerberg heard him loud and clear.
"Ordinary citizens should be very concerned."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned social media giants they "have a social responsibility" to the Australian public.
The fact-checking program typically involves journalists at internationally accredited agencies reviewing social media claims through rigorous questioning, consideration of evidence and verification using multiple sources.
Posts deemed to be "False" or "Altered" have a fact-check article appended to them and may receive reduced distribution across Meta's platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
A recent federal inquiry highlighted more Australians were concerned about misinformation and disinformation than the global average.
Nearly half of young Australian adults and 20 per cent across all age groups use social media as their main news source, according to a 2024 report by the federal media authority.
"Mr Zuckerberg's decision is all about maximising the profits of Meta ... at the expense of community safety and human decency," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC radio on Wednesday.
"It's got nothing to do with freedom of speech and all got to do with maximum profits."
Australian Associated Press said its fact-checking agency AAP FactCheck's contract with Meta was not impacted by the US decision and its work would continue in 2025.
“Independent fact-checkers are a vital safeguard against the spread of harmful misinformation and disinformation that threatens to undermine free democratic debate in Australia and aims to manipulate public opinion," chief executive Lisa Davies said.
Meta said it ended the program because expert fact-checkers had their own biases and too much content was being checked.
"A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor," it said.
The boss of X welcomed Meta’s decision, saying the move “couldn't be more validating" for its decision to let users police content themselves.
Chief executive Linda Yaccarino's statements come despite studies criticising X Corp’s crowd-sourced fact-checking program, Community Notes, which researchers said allowed misinformation to spread without verification.
Senator Malcolm Roberts celebrated the change while attacking the program which had called out his misleading claims about garlic killing COVID-19, population figures and agriculture's impact on greenhouse gases.
"Thank goodness for Donald Trump, he's driving this," the One Nation senator said.
Google and TikTok have been contacted for comment.
In April, Google trumpeted specialist fact-checkers as being "on the front line in the fight against mis and disinformation" as it "supercharged" its partnership with AAP FactCheck.
