Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has announced a significant shift in its content moderation strategy, replacing third-party fact-checkers with a new program called Community Notes, inspired by the approach of Elon Musk’s platform, X.
The move, unveiled by Meta’s newly appointed policy chief Joel Kaplan, aims to empower users to play a larger role in determining what information is flagged as misleading or requiring additional context. Kaplan’s move comes amidst growing concerns over perceived bias in content moderation practices.
Meta’s Community Notes program will allow users to provide contextual information on posts, with the goal of reducing bias in content moderation. Instead of relying solely on third-party fact-checkers, Meta intends to allow individuals with diverse perspectives to agree on when content needs additional explanation. This initiative, according to Meta, is a response to feedback about the perceived over-censorship of “harmless content.”
“We’ve seen this approach work on X, where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context, and people across a diverse range of perspectives decide what sort of context is helpful for other users to see,” Meta said in its announcement.
The introduction of Community Notes replaces full-screen warnings and pop-up alerts with unobtrusive labels indicating that there is additional information available on a post. This feature is expected to roll out across the United States in the coming months.
Like X’s content rating system, Meta’s Community Notes will rely on the input of users from a variety of perspectives, allowing for a broader range of viewpoints to influence the content seen on its platforms. Meta argues that this community-driven approach is a more effective way of informing users and minimising biases compared to the traditional fact-checking process.
Alongside the Community Notes announcement, Meta revealed that it will be relocating its trust and safety teams out of California and to Texas and other U.S. locations. This move is part of Meta’s broader strategy to overhaul content policies, following complaints about slow response times to account restrictions and content moderation concerns.
In response to criticism about its handling of sensitive topics like immigration and gender identity, Meta will also begin phasing out a number of current restrictions. The company will roll out a more personalised approach to political content in users’ feeds, offering a broader range of viewpoints and reducing blanket censorship.
Meta’s overhaul comes at a time when many social media platforms are grappling with the challenge of balancing free expression with the need for effective moderation. The shift from traditional fact-checkers to user-driven moderation in the form of Community Notes reflects a broader trend of decentralising content control in favour of more community-based decision-making.
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