The end of fact-checking at Meta is raising fresh concerns its platforms will become a hotbed of disinformation as the network hands over the policing of content to users.
The move, coupled with the loosening of some hate speech rules, was slammed by some tech policy experts as a 180-degree shift for Meta that could undo nearly a decade of efforts to prevent disinformation from spreading on its platforms — Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg framed the decision as a return to the company’s “roots” in an embrace of free speech, some observers worry today’s political and digital climate leaves too much room for false information to spread online.
“You get rid of the fact-checkers and people that are sort of policing the content … that [could] be a turbo-charged engine for disinformation,” Ari Lightman, a digital media professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told The Hill.
“Disinformation is very sensational in terms of its orientation. It’s designed to draw people in, it’s designed to be confrontational,” he said.
The fact-checking program was created in 2016 amid mounting scrutiny after it was revealed Russia attempted to use Facebook to influence the U.S. election that year.
In the years that followed, the platform repeatedly boosted the program, with more than 80 independent fact-checkers.
The fact-checkers, however, did not monitor or judge the speech of elected officials on its platforms.
Now, Zuckerberg appears to be changing his tune on Trump, a longtime critic of social media companies for what he believes is censorship of his views.
“Four years ago this week, Facebook banned Donald Trump for inciting a violent insurrection that resulted in the deaths of five people and disrupted our democracy,” Nicole Gill, the co-founder and executive director of tech advocacy group Accountable Tech, said of the announcement last week.
“Now, Zuckerberg is reopening the floodgates to the exact same surge of hate, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that caused January 6th — and that continue to spur real-world violence,” she added.
The fact-checking system will be replaced by user-generated “community notes,” reminiscent of the feature used on Elon Musk’s X platform.
Musk, for his part, has faced criticism for X’s reliance on community notes. Some tech advocacy groups have accused the platform of becoming a hub for disinformation and bias toward certain views.
Some of these same groups are concerned Meta will face the same fate.
