Welcome to 2025, where truth is playing hide-and-seek, and AI-generated content is the mischievous fox leading the game.

Mark Zuckerberg has decided to let Meta go free-range with content moderation, introducing “Community Notes” (kind of like X’s version of ‘help yourself’ fact-checking). It’s a bold new world of say-what-you-want free speech—or is it just free-range misinformation?

But first, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Last week, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary, Korir Sing’oei, found himself in hot water after sharing an AI-generated deepfake on his official X account. The video, masquerading as a CNN broadcast, falsely portrayed Kenya’s role in Sudan’s peace efforts.

Anyway, it didn’t take long for eagle-eyed users to call it out, forcing the PS to delete the post and issue an apology. But the damage was done and a national conversation ensued about the dangers of AI-generated content.

Ironically, Zuckerberg’s move to relax content moderation on Meta platforms and introduce “Community Notes” is shaping up to be a game-changer for 2025. The shift toward a more laissez-faire approach to free speech comes at a time when AI-generated content is exploding, leaving us in a world where most of what we see online exists in an anxiety-inducing “not sure if this is real or fake” gray area.

Will this new era of free speech truly set us free? Or will it leave us more polarized, more resistant to change, and less tolerant of opposing views? Only time will tell.