John Swinney has said he is concerned by the moderation changes at Facebook and Instagram, while signalling that he may reconsider the Scottish Government’s use of X, formerly Twitter, in future.
Meta has announced that Facebook and Instagram will move away from using third-party fact checkers to flag misleading content in favour of user-based notes similar to X.
Boss Mark Zuckerberg has said the system which has built up in his company in recent years has become biased and is making too many mistakes, saying he wants to return to his platforms’ core values of free speech.
But fact-checking organisations say the move will mean misinformation will spread more easily online.
Asked about the changes during a visit to a battery storage site in South Lanarkshire on Wednesday, Mr Swinney said quality factual information should “underpin all of our discourse in life and certainly within public policy”.
He added: “I’m concerned about these developments, because anything that undermines the reliability of information that’s available to the public causes uncertainty and potentially damage to the quality of our debate.”
He also said populism is a “disaster for our society” which he will seek to confront.
X owner Elon Musk has made a number of comments on UK politics in recent days, leading to the Prime Minister defending his safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
The world’s richest man has also clashed with Mr Swinney’s predecessor Humza Yousaf online.
Discussing the Scottish Government’s use of X, the First Minister said: “I’ll keep considering this, because it’s certainly not my last word on the subject.
“I want to make sure I use all channels to communicate with the public, but I’ve got to be satisfied those channels are appropriate for me and for my government.
“While I’m still using X just now, I will consider further the issues that are raised by members of the public about the appropriateness of that as a communications channel.”