ICYMI: Meta Scraps Third-Party Fact-Checking with User-Driven Community Notes

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that it will discontinue its third-party fact-checking initiative and replace it with a user-driven model known as Community Notes.

The approach mirrors one employed by Elon Musk’s platform, X.

Initially launching in the United States, Meta will phase out its collaboration with independent fact-checking organisations. The decision stems from concerns over perceived biases among professional fact-checkers and the extensive volume of content subject to scrutiny.

Instead, Meta will adopt the Community Notes framework, leveraging contributions from platform users to identify and contextualise potentially misleading posts.

In a blog post, Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, explained that the model draws inspiration from X’s success, where the community takes responsibility for adding context to questionable content. Kaplan noted that the rollout will occur over the next few months, with further refinements expected throughout the year. In the interim, Meta will replace existing warning overlays with contextual labels on posts.

In tandem with this transition, Meta also plans to relax restrictions on certain mainstream topics, such as immigration and gender, while maintaining a firm stance against illegal activities and severe violations, including terrorism, child exploitation, and drug-related content.

Meta acknowledged that its intricate content management systems have overreached, leading to excessive censorship and numerous errors. CEO Mark Zuckerberg attributed some of the changes to the broader cultural and political climate, referencing the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg remarked in an online statement.

Meta’s Oversight Board, an independent body tasked with reviewing contentious content decisions, welcomed the policy overhaul. The board expressed its intention to collaborate with the company to ensure the new system effectively balances free expression with responsible content management.