The new gatekeepers

Never has it been easier to spread misinformation at scale—with less concern about media meaningfully policing it. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are of one mind. The most powerful global information platforms should be governed by free speech—and the people—not by the platforms themselves. Both concluded it's too hard, too inherently biased, and too restrictive to put limits on speech. It's also cheaper to stop trying—and convenient to switch as Washington goes all-in on MAGA. Meta made a far-reaching announcement on January 7, with a post headlined, "More Speech and Fewer Mistakes." Facebook, Instagram and Threads will end their third-party fact-checking program—and move to a Community Notes model, where users add corrections and context. That opens most of social media up as a Wild West of expression, where high-quality, trustworthy information will commingle with garbage and misinformation. That's what free speech absolutists have long fought for.