Meta’s surprise decision to end its United States fact-checking program sparked sharp criticism from disinformation researchers on Tuesday, warning it could unleash a surge of false narratives.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to “get rid” of third-party fact-checkers in the United States, a significant policy shift analysts interpret as an effort to align with President-elect Donald Trump.
“This is a major step back for content moderation at a time when disinformation and harmful content are evolving faster than ever,” said Ross Burley, co-founder of the nonprofit Centre for Information Resilience.
Fact-checking and disinformation research have been contentious issues in the highly polarized U.S. political climate, with conservative advocates arguing they are used to suppress free speech and censor right-wing content.
Trump’s Republican Party and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, owner of social media giant X (formerly Twitter), have consistently voiced similar complaints about fact-checking and content censorship.
“While efforts to protect free expression are vital, removing fact-checking without a credible alternative risks opening the floodgates to more harmful narratives,” Burley said. “This move seems more about political appeasement than smart policy.”
As an alternative, Zuckerberg announced that Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would implement “Community Notes,” similar to those used on X (formerly Twitter).
Community Notes is a crowd-sourced moderation tool that X promotes as a way for users to add context to posts. However, researchers have consistently questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods.
“You wouldn’t rely on just anyone to stop your toilet from leaking, but Meta now seeks to rely on just anyone to stop misinformation from spreading on their platforms,” Michael Wagner, from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told AFP.
“Asking people, pro bono, to police the false claims that get posted on Meta’s multi-billion dollar social media platforms is an abdication of social responsibility.”
Meta’s new approach overlooks research indicating that “Community Notes users are often motivated by partisan interests and tend to disproportionately target their political opponents,” said Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech.
Meta’s announcement marks a financial setback for its US-based third-party fact-checkers.
According to a 2023 survey by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), Meta’s program and external grants have been “predominant revenue streams” for global fact-checkers, surveyed across 137 organizations in numerous countries.
The decision will also “hurt social media users seeking accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their everyday lives and interactions,” said IFCN director Angie Holan.
“It’s unfortunate that this decision comes in the wake of external political pressure from a new administration and its supporters,” Holan added.
