Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the US and replacing it with a system similar to “Community Notes” on Elon Musk-owned X, the Facebook parent said on Tuesday.
The new model will allow users on Meta’s social networks Facebook, Instagram and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and require more context, rather than shifting the responsibility to independent organizations and fact-checking experts.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to CBC News that the changes will not be implemented in Canada or anywhere else outside the US for now.
“We’re starting to roll out community notes in [U.S.]and will continue to improve it throughout the year before expanding to other countries,” the spokesperson said.
Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan wrote a blog post explaining the change.
“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This was evident in the choices some made about what to fact-check and how,” Kaplan wrote. “A program intended to inform has too often become a tool for censorship.”
Kaplan added that his efforts over the years to manage content on his platforms have expanded “to the point where we make too many mistakes, frustrate our users, and too often stand in the way of the free expression we set out to enable.”
The changes are partly a consequence of Trump’s victory
CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes were partly driven by political events, including Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
“The recent election also feels like a cultural tipping point toward re-prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in an online video.
The company said it will begin phasing out Community Notes in the United States over the next few months and will refine the model throughout the year.
“We’ve seen this approach work at X — where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context,” Kaplan said in a blog post.
Meta will also stop degrading verified content and use a flag that informs users that there is additional information related to a post, instead of the current method of displaying full-screen warnings that users must click through before even viewing the post.
