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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that the company is scrapping its fact-checking program in favor of a “community notes” system, similar to the model implemented by Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).
The move marks a shift toward prioritizing free expression and reducing content moderation errors.
Meta’s new system will allow users to write and rate community notes that will appear alongside specific posts.
Zuckerberg explained the decision in a video accompanying a Meta blog post, citing growing concerns about censorship and mistakes made by the fact-checking team.
“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg stated.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech. So we are going to get back to our roots, focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
The company plans to implement the system gradually over the next several months, refining it throughout 2025.
Meta is rolling out its new Community Notes system to ensure a more balanced approach to content moderation.
This user-driven model seeks to prevent political bias by allowing a diverse group of users to contribute and evaluate notes on content.
The initiative is designed to reduce the influence of external fact-checking teams, encouraging broader community participation in flagging misinformation.
Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan described the system as requiring agreement among users with diverse perspectives to ensure fairness in note ratings.
“Just like they do on X, Community Notes will require agreement between people with a range of perspectives to help prevent biased ratings,” Kaplan explained.
Meta’s pivot also involves lifting restrictions on “mainstream discourse” topics while focusing enforcement on illegal content or severe policy violations.
Meta introduced its third-party fact-checking program after the 2016 election to combat misinformation.
However, Kaplan acknowledged flaws in the system, describing it as overly influenced by political bias.
“It has become clear there is too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check because, basically, they get to fact-check whatever they see on the platform,” Kaplan told Fox News Digital.
Under the new model, the community will play a central role. Kaplan explained, “Instead of going to some so-called expert, it relies on the community to provide their own commentary to something they’ve read. If a note gets support from the broadest cross-section of users, it can be attached to the content for others to see.”
Kaplan also revealed plans to revise Meta’s content moderation rules to encourage open discourse on sensitive topics such as immigration and gender issues.
“We want to make sure that discourse can happen freely on the platform without fear of censorship,” he said.
While Meta intends to loosen restrictions in some areas, Kaplan emphasized that the company will continue moderating posts related to terrorism, illegal drugs, and child exploitation.
Kaplan highlighted the potential for collaboration with the incoming Trump administration, which he described as a strong advocate of free expression.
“We have a new administration coming in that is far from pressuring companies to censor and [is more] a huge supporter of free expression,” Kaplan said.
He noted that this shift aligns with Meta’s founding principles and presents opportunities for partnership on issues such as free speech and technological advancement.
Meta also plans to allow users to personalize their exposure to political content, giving them the choice to see more or less of it based on their preferences.
The company’s broader enforcement strategy will now prioritize tackling illegal and high-severity violations while aiming to restore trust and transparency in its platform governance.
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