Mark Zuckerberg just announced a stunning pivot for Meta's approach to social media censorship. Here's what he's going to do:

This new approach is going to govern all the Meta realms, from Facebook to Threads to Instagram. Meaning it'll affect the interactions of some three billion people around the globe. In other words, this is huge.

As to be expected, many are highly skeptical of Zuckerberg's motives. And for good reason. Despite making a soaring speech to the values of free speech back in 2019, Meta, together with Twitter, became one of the primary weapons for a political censorship regime that went into overdrive during the pandemic.

Both Meta and Twitter received direct instructions from the US government, among other institutions, on what was to be considered allowable speech and what was to be banned. The specifics shifted over those awful years, but everything from questioning the origins of the Covid virus to disputing vaccine efficacy to objections on mass migration to the Hunter Biden laptop leak all qualified for heavy-handed intervention.

The primary rhetorical fig leaves for this censorship regime was "hate speech" and "misinformation". Terms that almost immediately lost all objective content, and turned into mere descriptors of "speech we don't like". Either because it was politically inconvenient or because it offended certain holy tenants of the woke religion that reigned at the time.

But that era is now over. Between Meta and X, the gravity of the global discourse has swung dramatically in favor of free expression. I suspect that YouTube and Reddit will eventually follow suit as well. But even if they don't, it won't really matter. The forbidden opinions and inconvenient information will still be able to reach a wide audience.

That's a momentous and positive moment for the world. And it's a particularly proud moment for America, since this is all downstream from the country's first amendment protection of free speech.

But it's also adding to the growing chasm between America and Europe. And the United Kingdom in particular. While America is recovering from the authoritarian grip on free speech in terms of both social media policies and broader social consequences (remember cancel culture?), the Brits are doubling down.

Any post on social media made in Britain is liable to have those cute little bobbies show up at your door with a not-so-cute warrant for your arrest. The delusional UK police commissioner is even threatening to "come after" people from around the world, if they write bad tweets.

And Europe isn't far behind. Thierry Breton, the former European Commissioner, spent much of last year threatening American tech companies, and Elon Musk in particular, with draconian sanctions, if they failed to censor on the EU's behest. He has thankfully since been dismissed, but the sentiment of censorship is alive and well in the EU.

This is why the world needs America. From the UK to the EU to Brazil, China, Russia, and Iran, political censorship is very popular. And for a couple of dark years in the US, it looked like the whole world was about to be united in an authoritarian crackdown on speech of all sorts.

But Elon countered the spell. His acquisition of Twitter and its transformation into X was the pivotal moment for both American and global free speech. And if you allow yourself to zoom out from the day-to-day antics of the meme lord at large, you should be able to see clearly how the timeline split.

I know that's hard to do for a lot of people who've traded in their Trump Derangement Syndrome diagnosis for a Musk Derangement Syndrome variety (or simply added it to their inventory of mental challenges). And I get it. It's hard to divorce principles from people! We're all liable to mix and confuse the two.

And speaking of Trump, which, to be honest, I try not to do too often, because I know how triggering he is,  credit is still due. There's no way this incredible vibe shift would have happened as quickly or as forcefully without his comeback win.

Now I doubt that any of his political opponents are going to give him any credit for this, even if they do perhaps quietly celebrate the pivot on free speech. And that's OK. I don't expect miracles, and we don't need them either. You don't need to love every champion of your principles to quietly appreciate their contributions.

Which very much reminds me of the historic lawsuit that the Jewish lawyers at the ACLU (in its former glory) fought to allow literal nazis to match in the streets of Skokie, Illinois. That case goes to the crux of free speech. That in order for you to voice your dissent on Trump or Musk or whatever, you need the protection of the first amendment to cover those who want to dissent in the opposite direction too.

That's a principle that's above the shifting winds and vibes of whoever is in power. It's entire purpose is to protect speech that's unpopular with the rulers of the moment. And as we've seen, electoral fortunes can change! It's in your own self interest to affirm a set of rules for participation in the political debate that live beyond the what's expedient for partisan success in the short term.

I for one am stoked about Meta's pivot on censorship. I've historically not exactly been Mark Zuckerberg's biggest fan, and I do think it's fair to question the authenticity of him and this move, but I'm not going to let any of that get in the way of applauding this monumental decision. The world needs America and its exceptional principles more than ever. I will cheer for Zuckerberg without reservation when he works in their service.

Now how do we get the UK and the EU to pivot as well?