Meta is making major changes to how it handles content on its platforms, announced CEO Mark Zuckerberg today.
The company announced that it is ending its third-party fact-checking program in the U.S. and replacing it with a new system called Community Notes. Inspired by X, this program will rely on users to flag and clarify potentially misleading posts.
Facebook, Instagram and Threads will be the first apps to support Community Notes, with people in the U.S. able to sign up today ahead of the launch.
Unlike the fact-checking program, Meta will not write or select these notes. Instead, they will be created and rated by contributors. The goal is to provide helpful context without relying on external fact-checkers, which the company says led to too much legitimate content being labeled unfairly.
Meta is also loosening restrictions on topics like immigration and gender identity. The company admitted its automated systems often over-censored content, leading to frustration among users (lots of people ended up in Facebook “jail” for example).
Moving forward, the company will focus its enforcement on serious violations, such as illegal activities, scams, and terrorism, while using user reports to address less severe issues. Meta says it is making changes to ensure its moderation process is faster, more accurate, and less prone to mistakes, including adding more human reviewers and incorporating AI tools to double-check decisions.
Watch Zuckerberg’s announcement below, citing the need for free expression now:
Another shift involves political content. Since 2021, Meta reduced the visibility of posts about elections and social issues in response to user feedback. Now, the company plans to take a more personalized approach, allowing users to decide how much political content they want to see. Posts will be ranked based on user interests, determined by engagement signals like likes and views.
Zuckerberg explained that these changes are part of the company’s commitment to free expression, a principle he defended in a 2019 Georgetown University speech. He argued that allowing people to speak freely—even when it’s messy or controversial—is essential for progress and empowering individuals.
“In past 24 hours, Canada’s online harms bill dies and Meta ends third party fact checking as company says it censored too much content. Huge changes to Internet content landscape. For Canada, Meta not backing down on blocking news links and U.S. could join fight on C-11 rules,” reacted Dr. Michael Geist, referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plans to resign and proroguing parliament until March, killing ongoing bills in the process.
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And they will focus on enforcement of illegal activities, scams etc… Their Facebook Marketplace is rife with scams, not to mention the sketchy adds that persistently keep popping up no matter what you do trying to eliminate them or at least reduce the number.
On the more important note, this movement among tech billionaires to free the speech seems wonderful on the surface. But only to the naive. As Zuckerberg openly said in his speech, they will collab on “protecting free expression worldwide” working with and using the power of US government. The aim is apparently to enforce the freedom of expression beyond the Facebook and US national borders and export it to the European and other Western countries who have their own ideas about it, using the power and reach of Meta’s social platforms and US government.
If they over there resist American/Trump/Musk/Zuckerberg concept, there will be consequences. First, in the form of economic pressures, then maybe something even more convincing. As Trump just said yesterday that he won’t rule the use of military force to gain control of Greenland, a part of another sovereign country. Not sure what they are smoking there at Mar-a-Lago but it seems they are dreaming of taking over the world, or at least the part they want, starting with Canada, Greenland and Panama Canal. It appears that America not only has a right to tell other countries what to do within their own borders but also have a right to their territories if it needs them or wants them. But maybe they don’t mean it and are just trolling, having little fun amongst themselves before they take over the serious and responsible job of running the country.