Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  Why Meta ditching fact-checking is so significant Meta is rolling out a series of changes to its content moderation policies, including the elimination of its fact-checking program and the introduction of a "community notes" system in its place.  © AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez Meta’s decision to eliminate its fact-checking program marks a sharp reversal for the major social media company, quickly prompting questions over the firm’s direction as President-elect Trump heads back to the Oval Office.     The move, combined with other content moderation policy changes, was quickly seen by some in the political world as a powerful signal Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are hoping to court Trump, who has long accused social media companies of censoring certain views.     “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning.   “More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”   Zuckerberg cited the recent election as a driving force in the company’s decision, slamming “governments and legacy media” as pushing the company to “censor more and more.”   “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech,” he said. “So we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”   Meta’s years-long fact-checking program enlisted the help of third-party fact-checkers that moderated posts in more than 60 languages. The company stated the practice eventually became too restrictive of posts over the years.   Trump suggested the changes had something to do with him, telling reporters Tuesday the decision was “probably” in response to his previous threats against Zuckerberg and the company.      “Honestly, I think they’ve come a long way — Meta, Facebook, I think they’ve come a long way,” he said.   Speculation about Meta and Zuckerberg’s political maneuvering has swirled for weeks following the CEO’s meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago late last year and subsequent leadership changes.     Zuckerberg pledged to work with Trump to fight against what he described as a global push for “censorship” on major social media platforms.     Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.   Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:   Man used ChatGPT to plan Las Vegas Cybertruck blast The man killed in the Las Vegas Cybertruck blast used ChatGPT to plan the explosion, police said. In a press conference, Tuesday, Las Vegas police released more details of the intentions of 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, who died of a gunshot wound prior to the car exploding. Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said it was concerning that Livelsberger used ChatGPT, a popular artificial intelligence model created by OpenAI, …  Full Story   US probing Teslas over driverless feature The U.S. government is probing Tesla over a driverless feature in its electric vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  Full Story   OpenAI’s Sam Altman urges Trump to ease power plant, data center construction OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that President-elect Trump should ease restrictions on data center and power plant construction to help boost the development of energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI).   Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:   Anthropic in talks to raise $2B in funding Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in a latest funding round that would see the artificial intelligence startup valued at $60 million, a massive jump from its $18 million valuation just last year, The Wall Street Journal reported.   AWS to invest $11B in Georgia data centers Amazon Web Services, the e-commerce giant's cloud computing arm, plans to invest "at least" $11 billion into data center infrastructure in Georgia, TechCrunch reported.   On Our Radar  Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan sits for a fireside chat with the Brookings Institution on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. Pinterest will host a "Celebration of Women in Congress" in the Rayburn House Office Building at the Capitol on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET.    What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: 5 takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference President-elect Trump faced the media at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday, the day after Congress had certified his victory in November’s … Read more Trump, allies fuel speculation over Greenland endgame President-elect Trump is ramping up speculation about his endgame with Greenland as he doubles down on calls to acquire the Danish territory, putting … Read more     You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter Subscribe