Minister calls on traditional media to fill fact gap

The Federal Councillor, Beat Jans, says the decision by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to end fact checking is worrying – but he says he sees an opportunity.

The Justice Minister said, during a meeting with the Association of Swiss German Publishers, that it creates a space that the media can occupy.

He called for a ‘counter movement’ from the media to provide fact-based information. 

He says ‘good journalism costs money’ and suggested copyright law could be used to claim money from social media platforms for using content from other media sources. 

Facebook’s plan to end fact-checking and move to community notes, as used on X, only applies to the United States – fact checking will continue elsewhere. 

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