Meta continues to roll out its community notes program, as some have vented frustration with the tech platform’s still active fact-checking program.
Paul Thacker, an independent journalist who focuses on disinformation efforts, wrote about being fact-checked by Facebook, “On January 7, @Meta‘s Mark Zuckerberg said he was cutting ties w/ fact checkers because they “destroyed more trust than they created, especially in the US.” Fake news. Meta added a notice yesterday to something I posted, b/c Reuters fact checked a “similar photo.”
He added, “Why did Mark Zuckerberg announce on January 7 that he was shutting down biased fact checkers when that is not the case? Was this announcement just to appease Congress while the fake fact checks continue?”
Thacker continued, “Reuters Fact Check has a disreputable history of promoting propaganda for Big Pharma.”
Elon Musk and others promoted the incident, raising concerns about still active fact-checking on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Francis Brennan, a spokesman for Meta, said that Meta will continue to roll out its community note program; however, until then, they will still use fact-checking.
He explained, “As we mentioned in January, we will be ending fact checking – nothing about that has changed. It’ll happen when we fully phase in our Community Notes program. We launched our beta version earlier this month.” He shared a link to sign up for Meta’s beta version of the community note program.
Meta’s website has stated that it will be phasing in community notes in its apps “over the next few months.”
“We plan to phase in Community Notes in the US first over the next couple of months, and will continue to improve it over the course of the year,” Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer for Meta, wrote in January. “As we make the transition, we will get rid of our fact-checking control, stop demoting fact checked content and, instead of overlaying full screen interstitial warnings you have to click through before you can even see the post, we will use a much less obtrusive label indicating that there is additional information for those who want to see it.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
