“It’s like this guy is… doing things that are problematic, taking away fact-checking,” Eisenberg told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “[There are] safety concerns. Making people who are already threatened in the world more threatened.”

Meta announced last month it would no longer use independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes”, where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.

In a video posted alongside a blog post, Mr Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression”.

But Eisenberg told BBC News he was “concerned”.

“These people have billions upon billions of dollars, like more money than any human person has ever amassed and what are they doing with it?” he said.

“Oh, they’re doing it to curry favour with somebody who’s preaching hate.

“That’s what I think… not as like a person who played in a movie. I think of it as somebody who is married to a woman who teaches disability justice in New York and lives for her students are going to get a little harder this year.”

Legal settlement

Meta’s move came as Mr Zuckerberg and other technology executives sought to improve relations with US President Donald Trump, ahead of his inauguration.

Trump and his Republican allies had criticised Meta’s fact-checking policy, as censorship of right-wing voices.

And after the changes were announced, Trump told a news conference he was impressed by Mr Zuckerberg’s decision and Meta had “come a long way”.

Last week, Trump signed a legal settlement that will see Meta pay out roughly $25m (£20m).

He had sued the company and Mr Zuckerberg, in 2021, over the suspension of his accounts after the 6 January Capitol riots.

Oscar nomination

Eisenberg is promoting A Real Pain, which he wrote, directed and stars in – a comedy drama about two cousins who travel to Poland together to visit Holocaust sites to honour their late grandmother.

The grandmother is based on Eisenberg’s real-life Aunt Doris and was filmed at the home his family used to live in, in Poland.

In the movie, the cousins struggle to reconcile their own modern life problems against the backdrop of one of the 20th Century’s most devastating and horrific events.

Eisenberg’s screenplay has received an Oscar nomination, as has his co-star, Kieran Culkin.

“Grandchildren of Holocaust survivors should wake up every morning and go outside and kiss the ground that they’re alive and thank whatever god they pray to – as the world didn’t want them to be alive,” Eisenberg told Today.

He said he had “tried to connect to bigger things” since making the film.

“I live in a world that feels hedonistic, my life is maybe too easy.”

He added that it was essential the film had a comic feel.

“It would be so sanctimonious without any humour in it.”

Eisenberg was also nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

It comes as Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, appears to be making efforts to mend ties with Trump, ahead of the US president-elect’s inauguration this month.

Days ago former UK deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg left his job as president of global affairs at the social media giant.

The other new members of Meta’s board include John Elkann, who leads European investment firm Exor, and Charlie Songhurst, a former Microsoft executive.

“Dana, John and Charlie will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with [artificial intelligence], wearables and the future of human connection,” said Mr Zuckerberg in a statement.

The social media giant also praised Mr White’s role in turning UFC into a global business.

In a post on Meta’s Instagram, Mr White said he loves social media and is “excited to be a small part of the future of [artificial intelligence] and emerging technologies.”

Mr White has previously rejected any suggestion that UFC platforms hate speech, insisting he supports free speech.

A year ago his tense exchange with a reporter who questioned why he allowed fighters to make anti-LGBT remarks went viral.

“People can say whatever they want and they can believe whatever they want,” Mr White retorted.The UFC boss has had a close relationship with Trump for decades.

Mr White’s appointment follows news that Sir Nick was being replaced at Meta by his deputy, prominent Republican Joel Kaplan, who has handled relations between the social media firm and the Republican Party.

There has been an apparent thawing between Meta and Trump in recent months.

Relations had been frosty at least since Trump was barred from Facebook and Instagram following the US Capitol riot in January 2021.

In August, Trump wrote in a book that Mr Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he attempted to interfere in the 2024 US election.

But the president-elect later softened his position, telling a podcast in October it was “nice” that Mr Zuckerberg was “staying out of the election”, and thanking him for a personal phone call after he faced an assassination attempt.

Mr Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago and had dinner with Trump after his electoral victory in November. Earlier this month, he donated $1m (£800,000) to the president-elect’s inauguration fund.

In a video posted alongside a blog post by the company on Tuesday, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression”.

Joel Kaplan, who is replacing Sir Nick Clegg as Meta’s head of global affairs, wrote that the company’s reliance on independent moderators was “well-intentioned” but had too often resulted in the censoring of users.

However, campaigners against hate speech online have reacted with dismay – and suggested the change is really motivated by getting on the right side of Donald Trump.

“Zuckerberg’s announcement is a blatant attempt to cozy up to the incoming Trump administration – with harmful implications”, said Ava Lee, from Global Witness, a campaign group which describes itself as seeking to hold big tech to account.

“Claiming to avoid “censorship” is a political move to avoid taking responsibility for hate and disinformation that platforms encourage and facilitate”, she added.

Emulating XMeta’s current fact checking programme, introduced in 2016, refers posts that appear to be false or misleading to independent organisations to assess their credibility.

Posts flagged as inaccurate can have labels attached to them offering viewers more information, and be moved lower in users’ feeds.

That will now be replaced “in the US first” by community notes.

Meta says it has “no immediate plans” to get rid of its third-party fact checkers in the UK or the EU.

The new community notes system has been copied from X, which introduced it after being bought and renamed by Elon Musk.

It involves people of different viewpoints agreeing on notes which add context or clarifications to controversial posts.

“This is cool,” he said of Meta’s adoption of a similar mechanism.

However the UK’s Molly Rose Foundation described the announcement as a “major concern for safety online.”

“We are urgently clarifying the scope of these measures, including whether this will apply to suicide, self-harm and depressive content”, its chairman Ian Russell said.

“These moves could have dire consequences for many children and young adults.

“Fact-checking organisation Full Fact – which participates in Facebook’s program for verifying posts in Europe – said it “refutes allegations of bias” made against its profession.

The body’s chief executive, Chris Morris, described the change as a “disappointing and a backwards step that risks a chilling effect around the world.”‘

Meta’s blog post said it would also “undo the mission creep” of rules and policies -highlighting removal of restrictions on subjects including “immigration, gender and gender identity” – saying these have stemmed political discussion and debate.

“It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms”, it said.

The changes come as technology firms and their executives prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.

Trump has previously been a vocal critic of Meta and its approach to content moderation, calling Facebook “an enemy of the people” in March 2024.

But relations between the two men have since improved – Mr Zuckerberg dined at Trump’s Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago in November. Meta has also donated $1m to an inauguration fund for Trump.

“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritising free speech,” said Mr Zuckerberg in Tuesday’s video.

Mr Kaplan replacing Sir Nick Clegg – a former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister – as the company’s president of global affairs has also been interpreted as a signal of the firm’s shifting approach to moderation and its changing political priorities.

Kate Klonick, associate professor of law at St John’s University Law School, said the changes reflected a trend “that has seemed inevitable over the last few years, especially since Musk’s takeover of X”.

“The private governance of speech on these platforms has increasingly become a point of politics,” she told BBC News.

Where companies have previously faced pressure to build trust and safety mechanisms to deal with issues like harassment, hate speech, and disinformation, a “radical swing back in the opposite direction” is now underway, she added.

The tech giant’s boss, Mark Zuckerberg, dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in November, having sought to repair his and his firm’s relationship with Trump following the election.

Trump has previously been highly critical of Mr Zuckerberg and Facebook – calling the platform “anti-Trump” in 2017.

Meta is not believed to have made similar donations to President Joe Biden’s inaugural fund in 2020 or to Trump’s previous inaugural fund in 2016.

The company confirmed its million-dollar donation to the inaugural fund to several outlets on Wednesday.

Inauguration funds are used to pay for events and activities when a new president takes office – some consider them an attempt to curry favour with a new administration.

The donation was confirmed by CBS on Wednesday, and was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US president on 20 January.

Relations between Trump and Mr Zuckerberg have historically been far less cordial.

They particularly soured when Facebook and Instagram suspended the former president’s accounts in 2021, after they said he praised those engaged in violence at the Capitol on 6 January.

Since then, Trump has waged a war of words against Meta – calling Facebook an “enemy of the people” in March.

He said a law that would see TikTok banned in the US unless sold off by its parent company ByteDance would unfairly benefit Facebook.

In August, Mr Zuckerberg told Republican lawmakers in a letter that he regretted bowing to pressure from the Biden administration to “censor” some Facebook and Instagram content during the coronavirus pandemic.Trump wrote in a book published in September that Mr Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to intervene in the 2024 election.

But the president-elect appears to have since softened his position.

He told a podcast in October it was “nice” Mr Zuckerberg was “staying out of the election”, and thanked him for a personal phone call after he faced an assassination attempt.

Still, Mr Zuckerberg remains far less close to Trump than fellow tech titan Elon Musk.

The Tesla and X owner has been dubbed Trump’s “First Buddy” because of his extensive donations to his election campaign.

That has led to Mr Musk being placed in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

There has been no such rapprochement between Mr Musk and Mr Zuckerberg – although the cage fight between them that was once mooted now appears to be off.