Meta tests ‘Community Notes’ to replace fact-checkers

AFP | San Francisco

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Social media giant Meta yesterday announced it would begin testing its new “Community Notes” feature across its platforms on March 18, as it shifts away from third-party fact-checking toward a crowdsourced approach to content moderation.

Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new system in January as he appeared to align himself with the incoming Trump administration, including naming a Republican as the company’s head of public policy.

The change of system came after years of criticism from supporters of US President Donald Trump, among others, that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.

Meta has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding certain forms of hostile speech. AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking scheme.