In January, Meta announced it would phase out its fact-checking program for Facebook in the US and replace it with X-like Community Notes. Now, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, has revealed that this change will occur on April 7.
In a post on X, Kaplan wrote: “By Monday afternoon, our fact-checking program in the US will be officially over. That means no new fact-checks and no fact-checkers. We announced in January we’d be winding down the program & removing penalties.”
This change is only being applied in the US for now. However, it’s possible that it will expand globally in the future. Without the fact-checking program, Facebook users who were once condemned for publishing fake news won’t be penalized anymore.
To replace this tool, which was used by verified media members, Kaplan says Community Notes will soon appear on Facebook. “In place of fact checks, the first Community Notes will start appearing gradually across Facebook, Threads & Instagram, with no penalties attached.”
Going forward, even if someone writes a lie or tells a half-true, the only thing that will happen is that the post will potentially get a Community Note, just like Elon Musk’s X. The good news is that Instagram and Threads didn’t have proper fact-checking programs to begin with. They’ll now have some sort of warning about questionable posts.
In March, Meta explained how the Community Notes will work. These are some of the key takeaways:
- Meta won’t decide what gets rated or written.
- According to Meta: “No matter how many contributors agree on a note, it won’t be published unless people who normally disagree decide that it provides helpful context.”
- Community Notes will have a 500-character limit.
- Notes won’t have author names attached to them, and contributors need to be over 18 and have an account that’s more than 6 months old and in good standing, such as with a verified phone number or with 2FA turned on.
- Notes can’t be submitted for advertisements, only on other forms of content.
