A new era of lies: Mark Zuckerberg has just ushered in an extinction-level event for truth on social media | Chris Stokel-Walker

The Meta boss's decision to drastically change Facebook and Instagram's factchecking programme has set the stage for a fact-free four years online

Social media has always acted as something of a funhouse mirror to society as a whole. The algorithms and amplifications of an always-online existence have helped accentuate the worst parts of our lives, while tucking in and hiding the best. It's part of why we're so polarised today, with two tribes shouting past one another on social media into a gaping chasm of hopelessness.

Which is what makes a declaration by one titan of big tech this week so worrying. Abandon hope all ye who enter: less than two weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House for a second crack at the US presidency, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads, has made major changes to content moderation, and in doing so appears to align itself with the views of the incoming president.

Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World's Favourite App