Meta to abandon fact-checking and replace it with X-style ‘Community Notes’

In a move that sent ripples through the social media landscape, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it is doing away with independent fact-checkers in favor of a user-driven moderation system similar to X’s (formerly Twitter) “Community Notes.” The change marks a dramatic turn in how two of the largest social media platforms in the world will vet their content.

The new feature, which is named “Community Notes,” will tear down the current structure of third-party fact-checking and introduce an approach where any user can “add context and further information” to posts. As such, that follows in the footsteps of Elon Musk on X to signal a somewhat broader trend for social media.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the change is justified because, “We’re ending our third party fact checking program and moving to a Community Notes model.” The company says the move will bring about “more speech and fewer mistakes” as it might have faced many criticisms of the fact-checking process being biased.

But the decision has been controversial. Critics have argued that the move may prove catastrophic in terms of an increase in misinformation, particularly with the 2024 U.S. presidential election getting closer. All this comes at a time when many of the same political figures, including Donald Trump, are now returning to social media, so one can only imagine what this turn of events will mean for public discourse and integrity in information.

Stuti Agrawal, a commentator on the issue, noted, “Meta’s decision to stop its fact-checking program and replace it with Community Notes, which is very much like X’s crowdsourced fact-checking system, is a huge shift in how the platform deals with misinformation.”

It should be noted that, while Meta is embracing this new approach for general content, the company has confirmed that Community Notes will not apply to paid adverts. The decision again evidences the continuous tension in social media platforms between profit motive and user accountability.

The change to Community Notes comes under increasing pressure from Republican critics who branded the practice of fact-checking as censorship. The change in the moderation strategy reflects the larger challenges faced by social media companies in balancing free speech concerns with the need to combat misinformation.

But as this new system rolls out, questions of effectiveness and potential consequence remain. Will community-driven moderation prove more or less effective than professional fact-checking? How will this change affect the spread of misinformation, especially during events like elections?

As the digital landscape keeps unfolding, Meta’s decision to dispense with fact-checking on Community Notes amounts to a great big shift in social media content moderation. The next few months will likely provide some important insight into how effective and consequential this new approach really is.