Meta ends fact-checking in the USA on Monday
Meta used the fact-checking program to combat misinformation on its platforms. US users now have to do it themselves.
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Meta is finally ending its fact-checking program in the USA. The program will end on Monday afternoon US time, announced Joel Kaplan, Global Affairs Officer at Meta. Instead, Meta will rely on the user-based Community Notes.
In previous years, Meta had relied on its teams to check content on its platforms such as Facebook and Instagram for false information and mark it as such if necessary.
Partial end to fact-checking
At the beginning of the year, Mark Zuckerberg, head of the parent company of popular social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, announced that he would be ending his collaboration with independent fact-checkers. Instead, Meta will use a form of community notes for its platforms based on the X model. Users will rate content themselves by writing comments on a post with further information on the respective topic. "Fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, at least in the US", said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, explaining the controversial decision, which coincides with the arrival of Donald Trump's new administration in the White House.
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Meta had previously introduced fact-checking over several years – in response to criticism of the spread of misinformation via its platforms. Outside the US, however, Meta often encounters legal hurdles, especially in the EU, where the Digital Services Act regulates the handling of illegal content and misinformation on social platforms.
From Monday, it will be "no fact-checking and no fact-checkers", as Kaplan puts it. As far as Meta is concerned, the dissemination of false information will no longer have any further consequences for users. The community notes on Facebook, Threads and Instagram will gradually appear instead.
(nen)
