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Meta’s announcement to terminate its third-party fact-checking program has sparked discussions about the future of misinformation management on social media. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian described the decision as “pragmatic,” suggesting it represents a retreat from a strategy that had proven to be impractical.
In January, just prior to Donald Trump assuming the presidency for his second term, Meta revealed it would discontinue its third-party fact-checking initiative. Critics, especially from conservative circles, had long argued that the program disproportionately targeted right-wing content, as highlighted by their accusations regarding bias in the fact-checking process.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, outlined a shift towards a community-driven approach in handling content verification, signaling a major policy overhaul at the company.
“This change was very pragmatic,” Ohanian stated during a conversation with CNBC at the Web Summit held in Qatar. He emphasized the difficulties of implementing effective fact-checking on a large scale and in real-time, indicating that attempts by platforms like Facebook were bound to fail.
“Ultimately, they were retracting what was, in retrospect, a flawed initiative from the outset,” he further noted.
Meta rolled out its global fact-checking program in 2016 to combat the spread of misinformation and has collaborated with various fact-checking organizations across more than 100 nations. The decision to phase out this program will start in the United States and, as of now, will not affect other countries.
Ohanian also reflected on the evolving landscape of social media, proposing that users will eventually be able to select their own algorithms. He suggested that platforms aim to enhance user engagement, albeit without any malicious intent.
Founded in 2005, Reddit emerged as one of the first major social media platforms, navigating its growth during the height of MySpace’s popularity. Despite facing challenges with moderation, including the banning of revenge porn and efforts to combat racist and misogynistic content, Reddit has amassed over 70 million daily active users today, with tailored community rules governing its numerous subreddits.
‘A Shift to Community Notes’
In discussing Meta’s revised content moderation framework, Joel Kaplan, the company’s chief global affairs officer, announced a transition to a Community Notes model. “Beginning in the U.S., we are halting our third-party fact-checking initiative,” Kaplan noted in a statement.
He further elaborated on Meta’s intention to adopt a more individualized approach to political content, aimed at users who prefer to see more of such discussions in their feeds.
At the time of the announcement, Meta did not respond to inquiries from CNBC regarding further details.
The Community Notes model has also gained traction with X, the platform owned by Elon Musk. X aims to foster a more informed environment by allowing users to collaborate in adding context to potentially misleading posts, a strategy that Kaplan praised.
Kaplan acknowledged the effectiveness of this model on X, noting how empowering users to determine when a post may be misleading leads to a richer discourse. “On a platform with billions of voices, the entirety of human expression—both positive and negative—is evident,” he remarked, underscoring the complexities of free expression.
Following Trump’s inauguration, Zuckerberg was among numerous executives from major American companies who chose to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In a correspondence with Congress, Zuckerberg later expressed regret regarding some of Meta’s decisions, specifically mentioning pressures from the Biden Administration that led to content censorship surrounding Covid-19 discourse.
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www.cnbc.com