Meta to Replace Fact-Checking with Community-Notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
Menlo Park, California: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, announced on Thursday that it will launch a pilot program called “Community Notes” in the United States starting on March 18th. This new feature will replace the company’s existing fact-checking program and will rely on community moderators to provide context to potentially misleading posts. The system is similar to one introduced on X (formerly Twitter) in 2021.
Meta stated that the Community Notes program will utilize an open-source algorithm similar to X’s.
In a press release, Meta explained its reasoning for the change, stating, “We expect Community Notes to be less biased than the third-party fact-checking program it replaces and to operate at a greater scale when it is fully up and running.” The company acknowledged that while the fact-checking program launched in 2016 aimed to rely on expert organizations, it faced challenges, particularly in the United States, where experts were seen to have their own biases that influenced their fact-checking decisions.
Meta emphasized that Community Notes will allow users on the platforms to collectively write and rate notes on specific posts, aiming for a less biased approach compared to traditional fact-checking.
The company plans to initially onboard over 200,000 potential contributors in the U.S. across its platforms, while also maintaining a waitlist for other interested users who meet the eligibility criteria, which includes being at least 18 years old.
What are Community Notes and How Community Notes Will Work
Community Notes will provide additional context to posts that might be misleading or need further clarification. These notes will be evaluated by other community members to ensure a broad consensus across different viewpoints before being publicly displayed. This approach is inspired by the system used by Elon Musk’s platform, X.
Meta clarified that the company itself will not decide which content gets rated or what notes are written; instead, this will be determined by the community contributors. To prevent bias, a Community Note will only be published if it receives agreement from a wide range of contributors. Each note will have a 500-character limit and must include a link to support the information provided.
Authors of Community Notes will remain anonymous. At its launch, the feature will support several languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Portuguese.