Terrorist organizations rarely, if ever, are fully defeated; they are merely degraded, usually only for a period of time before they reap death and destruction all over again, albeit with a new name or leader. Misinformation has the potential for the same.

Prior to the election, sociologist Larry Diamond observed in Foreign Affairs, “political extremism, polarization, and distrust have been on the rise even in long-established liberal democracies.” This trend is amplified by technology’s deep integration into politics, with social media and AI now fueling authoritarianism through surveillance, disinformation, and polarization. While I don’t believe technology’s role is inherently negative, if democracies on the edge of illiberalism don’t address extremism and misinformation, both online and offline, we risk becoming no better than our adversaries in the long run.

What’s most important about Mark’s announcement is the signal these policy rollbacks send to other technology companies like Alphabet, TikTok, BlueSky, Snapchat, Discord, OpenAI, and emerging smaller platforms that people have integrated into their daily lives. More importantly, how will civil society, academia, and liberal democracies (and, in some cases, authoritarian ones that have strict privacy laws) circle their wagons to ensure the global community is safe from online harms?