Starting in the United States, Meta will end its independent third-party fact-checking program. The company explained that it decided to end this program because expert fact-checkers had their own biases and too much content ended up being fact-checked.
Instead, the company chose a community notes model that uses user suggestions for fact-checking.
“We’ve seen this approach work on .
The Associated Press previously participated in Meta’s fact-checking program but ended its participation a year ago.
The social media company also said it plans to allow “more expression” by lifting some restrictions on topics that are part of common discussion in order to focus on illegal and “very serious” violations such as terrorism, sexual exploitation of children and drugs.
Meta’s approach to setting up complex systems to manage content on its platforms had “gone too far” and made “too many mistakes” by censoring too much content.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the changes are partly triggered by political events, including Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward a new emphasis on free speech,” Zuckerberg said in an online video.
Meta’s quasi-independent Oversight Board, which was created to act as an arbiter in decisions on controversial content, welcomed the changes and said it looked forward to working with the company “to understand the changes more in detail, to ensure that its new approach is as effective and respectful of freedom of expression as possible.
