The China Mail - Meta tests 'Community Notes' to replace fact-checkers

Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new system in January as he appeared to align himself with the incoming Trump administration, including naming a Republican as the company's head of public policy.

The change of system came after years of criticism from supporters of US President Donald Trump, among others, that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.

Meta has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding certain forms of hostile speech.

AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook's fact-checking scheme.

The initiative, similar to the system already implemented by X (formerly Twitter), will allow users of Facebook, Instagram and Threads to write and rate contextual notes on various content.

Meta said approximately 200,000 potential contributors in the United States have already signed up across the three platforms.

The new approach requires contributors to be over 18 with accounts more than six months old that are in good standing.

During the testing period, notes will not immediately appear on content and the company will gradually admit people from the waitlist and thoroughly test the system before public implementation.

Meta emphasized that the notes will only be published when contributors with differing viewpoints agree on their helpfulness.

"This isn't majority rules," the company said.

Moreover, unlike fact-checked posts that often had reduced distribution, flagged content with Community Notes will not face distribution penalties.

Notes will be limited to 500 characters, must include supporting links and will initially support six languages commonly used in the United States: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Portuguese.

"Our intention is ultimately to roll out this new approach to our users all over the world, but we won't be doing that immediately," the company said.

"Until Community Notes are launched in other countries, the third party fact checking program will remain in place for them," it added.

Meta said that it would not be "reinventing the wheel" and will use X's open-source algorithm as the basis of its system.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month warned that the rollbacks to fact-checking and moderation safeguards were "reopening the floodgates" of hate and violence online.

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