BBC News Briefing

7 January, 2025

Alex Binley

Hello. Meta - the company which owns Facebook and Instagram - says it's getting rid of independent fact checkers and will instead rely on "community notes" from its users, an approach pioneered by X. We hear from Will Grant on how Trump's presidency will likely define that of his counterpart in Mexico, and we bring you images of celebrations from around the world as Orthodox Christians mark Christmas.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Facebook and Instagram get rid of fact checkers

A close-up image of Mark Zuckerberg's face. He appears too be speaking and has short, curly, light-brown hair and blue eyes.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the change will allow Meta to 'get back to our roots around free expression'. Credit: Getty Images

Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style "community notes" - where users add context or clarifications to posts. The move is because third-party moderators are "too politically biased", the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday, adding that it was "time to get back to our roots around free expression". However, campaigners against hate speech online have reacted with dismay - and suggested the change is really motivated by getting on the right side of incoming US President Donald Trump who has previously been a vocal critic of Meta's content moderation. Meta said the changes will take place "in the US first", and it has "no immediate plans" to get rid of its third-party fact checkers in the UK or the EU.

GET UP TO SPEED

Le Pen wears a dark suit with a red tie and a mauve-coloured shirt. He is bald and wears glasses. He is sitting in a chair and has his hands crossed in his lap.

French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen dies

He repeatedly played down the Holocaust and was an unrepentant extremist on race, gender and immigration.

More on his life >

A close-up of Donald Trump's face. He stands behind a microphone and is wearing a suit.

Trump threatens tariffs on Denmark over Greenland

The US president-elect said the tariffs on Denmark would come if it resists his effort to take control of Greenland.

Read more >

Jess Phillips has her hand in front of her mouth as if she is biting her thumb. She is wearing hoop earrings, has short brown hair and blue eyes.

Musk's 'disinformation' endangering me - minister

The tech billionaire and Trump adviser has fiercely criticised the UK's safeguarding minister in recent days.

More from Phillips >

AT THE SCENE

Mexico

Mexican president's term will be defined by how she handles Trump

Claudia Sheinbaum stands behind a lectern and had her arms spread apart. She has dark hair which is pulled back into a ponytail and is wearing a dark jacked with a buttoned-up collar.

Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico's first female president. Credit: EPA

From Our Own Correspondent: Both the US and Mexico held presidential elections in 2024, and that is where the similarities end. In the US, Donald Trump was elected for a second time, while Mexicans voted in their first female president - Claudia Sheinbaum. Friction that began during Trump's first term looks like it will continue in 2025 and Sheinbaum's challenge will be finding ways to keep her neighbour happy to avoid escalating tensions, while not simply submitting to Trump's demands.

Will Grant's hair is parted on the side and is light brown. He appears to be looking at the camera and talking. He is wearing a dark shirt.

Will Grant, Mexico correspondent

Mexico is Trump’s immediate neighbour - a country with which he seems to have a unique obsession, and many people here haven’t forgotten the antagonism of his first term. He’s already threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican goods unless the government here “solves” what he called “the invasion” of millions of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs, particularly the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, into the US. All of this before he’s even got his feet under the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

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So, whether it’s borders or deportees, tariffs or fentanyl, Sheinbaum’s 2025 – if not her whole presidency – looks set to be defined by how she handles Trump. Just days before her landslide victory, I sat down with her in the eastern state of Veracruz. Her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail and wearing a white dress with an elaborately hand-stitched band of flowers across the waist, she appeared unfazed. “I’m ready to defend Mexicans and Mexico’s interests always,” she said in fluent English.

Listen now

More from Will: When she took office, Sheinbaum vowed that now "is the time for women".

Leaders' accounts differ: Sheinbaum sought to clarify details of a call with Trump, after he said she'd agreed to "effectively" close the border.

A man lies on a grass field looking at a starry sky

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

The journey ahead

From noctourism to calmcations, here are the year's hottest travel trends.

See the list

And finally...

For many of the world's 200 million Orthodox Christians, the birth of Jesus Christ is marked on 7 January. Take a look at how the celebration has been marked among Orthodox communities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Six Steps to Calm

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– Alex

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