Meta scraps fact checker; Reddit’s NFT lead exit sparks concerns
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Homepage > News > Business > Meta scraps fact checker; Reddit’s NFT lead exit sparks concerns Meta (NASDAQ: META) has announced plans to ditch third-party fact-checkers on its platform, opting to replace them with community notes as it leans away from its seven-year censorship policy. According to Meta’s blog post, the social media giant is overhauling its content policy for users across its platforms in an effort to promote free speech. Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan unveiled a new policy direction for the company by shuttering its fact-checking program in favor of community notes. Launched in 2016, Meta gave the responsibility of fact-checking on its platforms to independent experts but biases affected the system’s credibility. “Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives,” said Kaplan. “This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how.” Aware of the glaring shortcomings, the company says it will steal a page from X (formerly Twitter) with its Community Notes system. Going forward, Meta users with different perspectives across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will provide context on posts that the company says are “less prone to bias.” The Community Notes will first debut in the U.S. before a global rollout at the end of 2025. Upon full launch, Meta says it will not demote fact-checked content and eliminate the display of interstitial warnings designed to increase the complexity for users to view certain content. “We will use a much less obtrusive label indicating that there is additional information for those who want to see it,” added Kaplan. The most seismic policy change appears to be ditching the complex systems for managing content on Meta platforms. Meta disclosed that the algorithms, originally designed to protect users, have inadvertently censored trivial content and stifled legitimate political debate…
Filed under: News - @ January 13, 2025 4:24 pm