Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of sweeping changes to Meta's content moderation strategy signals a sharp rightwards shift as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

The social media company is rolling back its restrictions on hate speech and will also ditch its third-party fact-checkers, whom Zuckerberg accused of being "too politically biased" – echoing the sentiments of conservative critics. Meta has also appointed Trump ally and UFC boss Dana White to its board, while Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan is replacing Nick Clegg as the tech giant's chief global affairs officer.

'Courting a potential disaster'
Only four years ago Zuckerberg banned Donald Trump from his platforms, but now the Facebook founder seems keen to show the president-elect and his Maga movement that he's ready to play nice. Zuckerberg is clearly trying to "insulate Meta from Trump's looming corporate retribution tour", said Allison Morrow at CNN.

But he is also "courting a potential disaster if Meta's advertisers flee and users begin to associate the brand", already "tarnished by AI slop and a years-long dearth of innovation", with the "kinds of unsavoury characters who now dominate X". The rightwards pivot may buy Meta some "insurance going into an era of Trump 2.0" but this is "hardly a foolproof business plan" in the longer term.

'Unchecked hateful disinformation'
With its new hands-off approach to content moderation, Meta is saying it is "up to you to spot the lies on its platforms" and that it is "not their problem if you can't tell the difference", Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told The Verge. Zuckerberg's company is "opening the door to unchecked hateful disinformation about already targeted communities like Black, brown, immigrant and trans people", said Nicole Sugerman, campaign manager at anti-hate nonprofit Kairos.

This genuflection to the Maga right could be an "extinction-level event for the idea of objective truth on social media", an "organism that was already on life support", Chris Stokel-Walker said at The Guardian. "Buckle in for a turbulent, vitriolic and fact-free four years online."

A facility where people can consume illegal drugs under medical supervision opened in Glasgow today, following a decade-long legal battle between the city's council and Westminster.

The initiative "marks a significant, if contested, moment for British drugs policy", said The New York Times. With Scotland recording the highest drug death rate in Europe, "all eyes are on Glasgow", Allan Casey, the city council's addictions convener, told The Guardian.

How does it work?
The Thistle will offer a safe environment in which addicts may take their own drugs, under nurse supervision. Open from 9am to 9pm, 365 days a year, the facility has eight open-plan injecting booths, as well as a lounge, and shower and laundry facilities. Users will be given access to clean syringes, needles and swabs.

What does the law say?
Drug legislation is reserved to Westminster, but Scotland's most senior law office confirmed in 2023 that the centre's users would not be prosecuted under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 for possession offences committed within the confines of the facility. This statement of prosecution policy "does not extend to people on their way to and from the facility, or anywhere else in Glasgow", said Scottish Legal News.

Will it help drug users?
There are more than 100 drug consumption rooms in countries across the world, and advocates claim they "cut the risk of overdose and infection, reduce the costs of acute hospital admissions, and put users in touch with healthcare professionals who can offer drug addiction treatment", said The New York Times.

These facilities, said the Big Issue, are part of a "harm-reduction approach", under which drug addiction is treated as "a public-health matter, rather than trying to shame or criminalise people into abstinence".

So is this the future of drugs policy?
The opening of the UK's first legal drug consumption room is a "potentially transformative moment", said The Guardian. "Such is the level of cross-UK interest" that Glasgow City Council is working with other British cities to lobby Westminster "to allow further pilot schemes". But some local residents fear the initiative could bring more drug dealing into the area, said The New York Times, while "other critics worry that it will be counterproductive" in addressing addiction.

"Step back into the belle époque and beckon the green fairy: absinthe is having a renaissance," said Victoria Brzezinski in The Times. The heady spirit has been "reappearing in drinking dens" up and down the UK. And global sales of absinthe are currently worth £29 billion and are forecast to rise to £32 billion by 2028.

Made with wormwood, anise, fennel and a concoction of other potent herbs, absinthe originated in Switzerland in the 18th century as a "medicinal elixir", said Ellie McDonald in The Times. It became so popular in belle-époque Paris that 5pm was dubbed the "green hour", in a nod to the spirit's bright-green hue.

But, as its popularity grew, the spirit came to be "blamed for a range of social ills", and by the 20th century, it had been outlawed in many countries around the world. Recent studies suggest the claims about absinthe's madness-inducing properties were likely "exaggerated", and a ban in France was lifted in 2011.

Today, a "new generation of drinkers" are fuelling its resurgence. Housing the UK's biggest collection of the spirit, the Absinthe Parlour in east London has become a haven for enthusiasts, with tastings and lectures, and music venues including the Black Heart in Camden and Blondies in Clapton are serving "frozen absinthe slushies".

Many of the top-drawer absinthes have an impressive "complexity of botanical flavours", said Tom Sandham in The Telegraph, and even a dash can have a significant impact on the nuance and depth of your tipple of choice. "Stock a bottle in your home bar, because without one, you're missing out on some of the best cocktails in history."

The truth about Dominic Cummings and Elon Musk's 'sabotage plot'
Sam Leith in The Spectator
The claim that Dominic Cummings is "helping orchestrate" Elon Musk's social media attacks on Keir Starmer is a story we'd "all love" to be true, writes Sam Leith: a "supervillain team-up" and a "thrillingly shadowy global conspiracy against democracy itself". But it's "impossible to imagine a cannon quite so loose" and "an ego quite so big" as Musk's "submitting to be orchestrated by anybody else". His interventions "aren't even orchestrated by himself". 

Islam is not to blame for the grooming gangs
Tim Stanley in The Telegraph
"I've become a bête-noire for a certain type" of person, those who believe I insist Islam isn't a problem "because I'm wet, ignorant or trying to keep in with the establishment", writes Tim Stanley. In fact, "I'm old-fashioned" and "believe the state should leave religious citizens alone". Rapists who claim to be Muslim "broke religious commandments", and emphasising "Islamic theology" in discussions of sex crimes removes "agency" from the perpetrators.

Weddings should be about more than likes – so ban social media
Olivia Petter for The Independent
"When did you last walk into a shop and feel truly valued?" writes Stefano Hatfield. "Polite, well-trained and knowledgeable staff can transform shopping trips" but "this generation of Gen Z retail assistants certainly leaves a lot to be desired". If high streets are to bounce back, they need "approachable staff, who actually care and can communicate". And "a smile, a friendly greeting and actually listening to what consumers want would be a start".