Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, has announced the adoption of community notes on its networks, marking a milestone with the implementation of a system that aims to revolutionize the way disinformation and freedom of expression are handled on their platforms.
Meta ends its third-party fact-checker program, a strategy that it has applied since 2016 and that it will now replace with a model based on user collaboration that other giants like YouTube have already introduced.
The shift towards a community collaboration system
Mark Zuckerberg, has emphasized that this change seeks restore freedom of expression on its platforms after years of criticism of current moderation policies. Zuckerberg noted that the community ratings system has proven to be an effective strategy in X, helping to reduce bias and improve collective understanding.
The new approach will focus on enabling users to add context publications in a collaborative manner, as long as there is consensus among people with different perspectives. This system will begin to be applied in the United States in the coming months and is expected to be the beginning of a more decentralized stage in content management.
Farewell to fact-checkers
The change involves the removal of third-party fact-checkers, a system that Meta said had fallen into overuse and was even considered intrusive. Criticism has not stopped falling since many legitimate contents were censored, which generated distrust between users and conflicts with independent organizations associated with this task.
According to Joel Kaplan, Meta's director of global affairs, The program had ceased to fulfill its original purpose of informing and had become a tool of censorship..
Instead of blocking entire posts or using invasive tags, The new model will allow publications with additional information available to be highlighted, thus reducing the impact of errors in moderation and promoting a more open dialogue between users
A renewed focus on serious infringements
In addition to empowering users, Meta has announced that it will redirect its efforts towards detection of high severity violationsThese include terrorism, child exploitation, drug-related activities and fraud. On the other hand, less serious violations will be handled only when users report them; this change reduces the proactive use of artificial intelligence in detecting problematic posts, reserving resources for the most urgent cases.
This move also includes streamlining internal moderation processes, by incorporating more human reviewers and using advanced artificial intelligence models to confirm decisions before implementing them. According to Zuckerberg, these adjustments will help reduce errors that have frustrated millions of users in recent years.
Controversies and criticisms surrounding the new model
Reactions to this decision have not been long in coming. While many celebrate the shift towards decentralization and the removal of fact-checkers, Others see it as a setback in the fight against disinformation.. Organisations such as the European Fact-Checking Standards Network have expressed concerns about potential gaps in moderation and have questioned whether this model will be truly effective for combating the spread of false content.
For their part, Zuckerberg and Meta's management team have strongly defended these changes, arguing that the new system will offer a more open and balanced platform for users, allowing for a freer and less controlled debate, but without neglecting security.
Meta is at a crossroads where expectations are high. This strategic change will mark how the company addresses the challenges related to disinformation and freedom of expression in an increasingly complex and polarized digital environment.