'The View' Hosts Engage in Heated Debate Over the End of Fact-Checking on Meta

The co-hosts of The View are not seeing eye-to-eye.

While discussing Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement that Meta will be ending fact-checking across its platforms, the hosts of the ABC talk show ended up in a heated debate over their differing opinions on the matter.

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The tense conversation arose during the Wednesday, Jan. 8 episode of The View, during which co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg strongly criticized Zuckerberg's decision to end fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram, while Alyssa Farah Griffin defended the idea of allowing a space for users to exercise "free speech."

Farah Griffin, who described herself as a "free speech absolutist," argued that there is a "cultural and societal desire to be able to talk about things openly."

But Goldberg, 69, then chimed in to counter her point, leading to a bit of frustration from Farah Griffin, who said, "Guys, I can't finish a sentence here," while pointing to co-host Sunny Hostin and saying, "She just talked for 20 minutes."

Goldberg then told Farah Griffin to "Be nice" while insisting that Hostin didn't actually talk for 20 minutes. Despite the high tensions, the table then invited Farah Griffin—the only conservative host on the show—to finish her thought. She continued by clarifying that "hate speech—something that incites violence—is not legally ever protected under the First Amendment."

But she noted that she opposes "policing speech because it makes people uncomfortable or they don't like it or it offends them."

Goldberg seemed to vehemently disagree, bringing up the offensive and hateful words that are written online to disparage people of color, women and other marginalized groups. And when Behar, 82, joined in to argue in favor of fact-checking to prevent the online spread of hateful messaging, Farah Griffin tried to interject.

"No one gets to finish a sentence here anymore," Behar quipped.

Sarah Haines then tried to dissolve the tension by clarifying what she thought Farah Griffin was trying to say, only for Behar to fire back: "Don't speak for her. She speaks very well for herself," leading Farah Griffin to roll her eyes from the other side of the table.

Farah Griffin doubled down, still arguing for free speech—especially in the comedic world—by claiming, "We always say comedy needs to be able to push limits."

"But be smarter," Goldberg countered. "You don't have to offend me to be funny."

The hosts ended up having to agree to disagree, with Goldberg calling for a commercial to finally veer off from the heated conversation–talk about a hot topic!

Next: 'The View' Announces Major Shakeup to the Long-Running Weekday Talk Show