Meta announced Tuesday major changes to its monitoring and curbing of speech and political content, calling it a return to its “roots” in support of free expression.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose social media platforms include Facebook and Instagram, said one of the key changes would be to scrap third-parties who vet content. Instead, they’ll allow users to add information and context.

“We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the U.S.,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in a video.

Among other key changes, Meta said it is lifting restrictions on topics that are “part of mainstream discourse” and will focus its enforcement efforts on illegal and “high-severity violations,” such as terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams.

It will also tailor its approach to political content, so people who want to see more of it in their feeds can opt to do so.

The changes will be viewed as a response to President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office. His inauguration takes place on Jan. 20.

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Mr. Trump and his supporters decried heavy-handed tactics on social media platforms, saying they tended to suppress right-leaning and dissenting views during the COVID-19 crisis.

One of Mr. Trump’s top supporters, billionaire Elon Musk, owns the X platform and frequently rails against censorship.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.