Meta’s Community Notes faces backlash over misinformation, accountability concerns

Social media giant Meta’s switch to X-like Community Notes for content moderation has come in for severe criticism. Many see it as a step back, raising concerns about how it will handle misinformation and ensure accountability.Alexios Mantzarlis, founding director of the International Fact-Checking Network, criticised Zuckerberg’s statement that “the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased, and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the US.” Mantzarlis had worked closely with Meta as the company set up its partnerships, according to Platformer.

“He chose to ignore that a large chunk of the content fact-checkers are flagging is likely not political in nature, but low-quality spammy clickbait that his platforms have commodified. He chose to ignore research that shows Community Notes users are very much motivated by partisan motives and tend to over-target their political opponents,” Mantzarlis said.

“This is a major step back for content moderation at a time when disinformation and harmful content are evolving faster than ever,” said Ross Burley, cofounder of the non-profit Centre for Information Resilience.

Also Read: Meta adopts X’s Community Notes: what it means for business

Fact-checking and disinformation research have long been contentious issues in the US, particularly in the hyperpolarised political climate. Conservative US advocates have argued that fact-checking serves to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.

While Community Notes has shown promise on X, a former Twitter executive noted the limits of volunteer content moderation. These notes rarely appear on posts outside the United States and are slower to address viral content compared to traditional fact checks. Moreover, there is little evidence that Community Notes effectively reduce harm.Adding to the challenge, many Community Notes rely on fact-checks from organisations Meta has now defunded.

Also Read: ‘Copycat’: Elon Musk, X users react to Meta introducing Community Notes

Meta’s announcement was cheered by conservative supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump, who said the move had “probably” been in response to his threats against the company and Zuckerberg.

Aaron Sharockman, executive director of US fact-checking organisation PolitiFact, rejected the claim that fact-checking was a tool to suppress free speech.

The role of US fact-checkers, he said, was to provide “additional speech and context to posts that journalists found to contain misinformation,” and it was up to Meta to decide what penalties users faced.

“The great thing about free speech is that people are able to disagree about any piece of journalism we post,” Sharockman said.