Mark Zuckerberg is scrapping independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram

In a video accompanying a blog post, he said: "We're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the US...

"The fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created - especially in the US.

"Over the next couple of months, we're going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system."

The billionaire businessman intends to work more closely with the US government in a bid to protect freedom of expression.

Mr. Zuckerberg added: "The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world.

"Europe has an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship and making it difficult to build anything innovative there.

"Latin American countries have secret courts that can order companies to quietly take things down.

"China has censored our apps from even working in the country.

"The only way we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the US Government. And that's why it's been so difficult over the past four years when even the US Government has pushed for censorship.

"By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further.

"But now, we have the opportunity to resort to free expression, and I am excited to take it."

The Meta boss has also announced plans to "simplify" content policies and to "get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics, like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse".