This photo illustration created on January 7, 2025, in Washington, DC, shows an image of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and a phone displaying the download page for the Facebook app. Drew Angerer, AFP 

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's claim that the fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram has veered into censorship is "false", the International Fact-Checking Network said Thursday.

"This is false, and we want to set the record straight, both for today's context and for the historical record," said the global network of fact-checking organizations, including AFP, after Zuckerberg announced an end to Meta's US program.

In announcing the significant rollback of Meta's content moderation policies on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said the program had made "too many mistakes and too much censorship".

While Meta's decision to scrap fact-check operations currently only applies to the United States, the International Fact-Checking Network warned of the potentially devastating impact if the group were to end its worldwide programs covering more than 100 countries.

"Some of these countries are highly vulnerable to misinformation that spurs political instability, election interference, mob violence and even genocide," the network said.

"If Meta decides to stop the program worldwide, it is almost certain to result in real-world harm in many places," it added.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook's fact-checking program, in which Facebook pays to use fact-checks from around 80 organizations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and Instagram.

In that program, content rated "false" is downgraded in news feeds so fewer people will see it and if someone tries to share that post, they are presented with an article explaining why it is misleading.