It’s been a busy few weeks in the world of tech, with big names such as TikTok, Meta and X making moves in terms of policy and business models.
Changes were announced as significant political shifts took place in the US – the start of President Donald Trump's second term, being one – and some of them were moments for the history books. The timing is no coincidence.
This episode of Business Extra hears a breakdown of these developments and explores the business motives driving them, both in the US and in the Middle East, with insights from our reporters and former insiders at Twitter and Meta.
Editor's note: After the publication of this episode, TikTok Middle East and North Africa responded to The National’s earlier request for comment regarding planned changes to policy surrounding fact-checking and content moderation.
“TikTok’s policies around fact-checking and misinformation are built on a foundation of continuous improvement to adapt to emerging challenges and ensure the safety of our community. We remain committed to refining our strategies in alignment with our community guidelines, user needs, and feedback from our global and regional fact-checking partners,” Malak Jaafar, MENAT outreach and partnerships manager at TikTok, told The National.
“Fact-checking partners do not moderate content on TikTok, but assess whether a claim is true, false, or unsubstantiated. A fact-checker's assessment is one factor moderators consider when reviewing a piece of content and applying TikTok's Community Guidelines accordingly,” Mr Jaafar said.
