DISTANCING META FROM POLITICS
Despite the headlines from Meta about its efforts in AI and hardware development, Meta is still primarily a social media company. In the third quarter of 2024, 98 per cent of its US$41 billion revenue came from advertising revenue on its social platforms.
Zuckerberg wants to ensure that Meta avoids regulatory scrutiny and remains advertiser-friendly. The best way to do it is to steer clear of promoting political content.
Before Meta’s decision to end its fact-checking efforts, Zuckerberg wrote a letter to the US Committee on the Judiciary highlighting his desire to distance Meta and himself from politics, due to the perception that the company’s content moderation policies “benefited one party over the other”.
Zuckerberg seems to be creating a new narrative for users regarding what content they should expect from his company. His message is simple: Meta apps are built for people to share their highlight reels, interact with friends and have fun.
As such, Zuckerberg is convincing users to stop seeing Meta’s social apps as platforms for political debate and instead as platforms for entertainment, thereby reducing advertisers’ concerns about regulatory risks.
This is perhaps best illustrated by his appointment of Dana White, the CEO of the global MMA company UFC, to his board. On the one hand, it is a strategic move undertaken by Zuckerberg to better align with the incoming US president Trump, as White is one of his most influential political allies.
On the other hand, White’s inclusion in Meta’s board marks its first inclusion of a corporate leader from the entertainment industry – signalling a push to make their social apps’ experience more entertaining.
So far, Zuckerberg’s rebrand has worked like a charm. The comment sections of his Instagram posts, previously laden with angry accusations and critiques, are now filled with athletes, entertainers and fans making light-hearted jokes about him or Meta’s products.
