Meta Employees attended their internal forum on Tuesday and criticized the company’s decision to stop third-party reviews of its services two weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

The employees expressed their concerns after Joel Kaplan, Meta’s new chief global affairs officer and a former White House deputy chief of staff under former President George W. Bush, announced the content policy changes on Workplace, the internal communications tool.

“We are optimistic that these changes will help us return to our fundamental commitment to free speech,” Kaplan wrote in the post, which was reviewed by CNBC.

The content policy announcement follows a series of decisions apparently aimed at appeasing the new government. On Monday, Meta added new members to its board, including UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime friend of Trump’s, and the company confirmed in December that it contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Among recent changes, Kaplan said Meta will eliminate its fact-checking program and move to a user-generated system like X’s Community Notes. Kaplan, who took on his new role last week, also said Meta would lift restrictions on certain topics and focus enforcement on illegal and serious violations, while offering users “a more personalized approach to political content.”

An employee wrote that they were “extremely concerned” about the decision and said it seemed to send Meta “a bigger, stronger message to people that facts no longer matter and to combine that with a victory for free speech.” “

Another employee commented: “Simply absolving us of the duty to at least try to create a safe and appropriate platform is a really sad direction.” Other comments expressed concern about how the policy change would impact discourse on issues such as immigration, gender identity and gender, which could lead to an “influx of racist and transphobic content,” according to one employee.

Another employee said they were worried that “we are entering really dangerous territory by paving the way for the further spread of misinformation.”

The changes were not widely criticized, with some Meta employees complimenting the company’s decision to end third-party fact-checking. One wrote that X’s Community Notes feature “has proven to be a much better representation of the ground truth.”

Another employee said the company should “provide a review of the worst outcomes of the early years,” which required the creation of a third-party fact-checking program, and questioned whether the new policies would prevent the same type of consequences from occurring again .

As part of the company’s massive layoffs in 2023, Meta has also shut down an internal fact-checking project, CNBC reported. This project would have allowed third-party fact-checkers such as the Associated Press and Reuters, as well as credible experts, to comment on flagged articles to verify the content.

Although Meta announced the end of its fact-checking program on Tuesday, the company had already withdrawn it. In September, an AP spokesperson told CNBC that the news outlet’s “fact-checking agreement with Meta ended back in January” 2024.

After White’s addition to the board was announced on Monday, employees posted criticism, questions and jokes on Workplace, according to posts reviewed by CNBC. Technology news outlet 404 Media previously reported on the Workplace posts involving White.

White, who has led the UFC since 2001, found himself in controversy in 2023 after a video published by TMZ showed him slapping his wife at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico. White publicly apologized and his wife, Anne White, issued a statement to TMZ calling it an isolated incident.

Commenters on “Workplace” joked about whether performance reviews would now include mixed martial arts-style fights.

In addition to White, John Elkann, CEO of the Italian car holding Exor, was appointed to Meta’s board.

Some employees questioned what value automotive and entertainment executives could bring to Meta and whether White’s addition reflected the company’s values. One post suggested that the new board appointments would contribute to political alliances that could be valuable, but could also change company culture in unintended or undesirable ways.

Comments in Workplace that referenced White’s personal history were flagged and removed from the discussion, according to internal app posts read by CNBC.

An employee who said he was part of Meta’s internal community relations team reminded Workplace of the company’s Community Engagement Expectations (CEE) policy for using the platform.

“Several comments have been flagged for review by the community,” the employee wrote. “It is important that we maintain a respectful work environment where people can do their best work.”

The internal community relations team member added that “insulting, criticizing or angering our colleagues or board members is not in line with CEE.”

Several employees responded to the notice, saying that even respectful posts that were critical had been removed, which amounted to a corporate form of censorship.

An employee said the person wanted to express support for “women and all voices” because critical comments were removed.

Meta declined to comment.

—CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez contributed to this report.

REGARD: Meta expands board with Dana White, John Elkann and Charlie Songhurst.