Meta (NASDAQ: META) Ditches Third-Party Fact-Checkers in Favor of Community Notes

Meta (NASDAQ:META) is overhauling its content policy for users across its platforms in an effort to promote free speech, the company announced Monday.

In a blog post, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan unveiled a new policy direction for the company by shuttering its fact-checking program in favor of community notes.

Launched in 2016, Meta gave the responsibility of fact-checking on its platforms to independent experts, but biases affected the system’s credibility.

“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives,” Kaplan said. “This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how.”

Aware of the glaring shortcomings, the company says it will steal a page from X (formerly Twitter) with its Community Notes system. Going forward, Meta users with different perspectives across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will provide context on posts that the company says are “less prone to bias.”

The Community Notes will first debut in the U.S. before a global rollout at the end of 2025. Upon full launch, Meta says it will not demote fact-checked content and eliminate the display of interstitial warnings designed to increase the complexity for users to view certain content.

“We will use a much less obtrusive label indicating that there is additional information for those who want to see it,” Kaplan added.

The most seismic policy change appears to be ditching the complex systems for managing content on Meta platforms.

Meta disclosed that the algorithms, originally designed to protect users, have inadvertently censored trivial content and stifled legitimate political debate on the platforms.

In the coming weeks, Meta will no longer limit conversations on topics revolving around immigration and gender identity. However, the company will focus the algorithms to clamp down on terrorism, scams linked to digital currencies, and child trafficking.

According to the statement, Meta will bring down the curtain on its policy of actively limiting political content available to users of its platforms. Conceding that the strategy was a “blunt approach,” Meta says it will adopt a personalized strategy, allowing users to opt for more political content or not.

There have been widespread electoral reforms in the buildup to the last general elections, with regulators rolling out new rules for emerging technologies in civic matters. Across the U.S., new playbooks have made their cameos in an attempt to regulate generative artificial intelligence (AI), digital currency donations, and deepfakes.

Reddit’s NFT lead exit sparks concerns over the future of the project

Meanwhile, the exit of the Reddit Collectible Avatars (RCA) lead Bianca Wyler has triggered widespread concerns over the future of the non-fungible token (NFT) project, with users bracing themselves for the fall of the curtain.

According to a LinkedIn post, Wyler confirmed her exit from the NFT project but did not indicate a specific reason for her exit in the statement. Instead, she cited “natural shifts” associated with social media platforms as they navigate the murky waters of changing priorities and new technologies.

“My role at Reddit has come to a close,” Wyler said. “While I am saddened by this transition, I am incredibly proud of the work I accomplished during my time there.”

Wyler joined Reddit to spearhead RCA mid-2024 in the thick of an extended NFT slump. In her statement, the ex-lead chronicled attempts to inject a new lease of life into the project, striking new collaborations with brands and pushing the frontiers for creators.

In 2022, Reddit launched RCA as millions of unique digital collectibles in the form of the site’s alien mascot for platform users with a range of utilities for holders. Users can display their collectibles on their profiles while enjoying the perks of special commenters, with their comments ranking higher than others.

Since its launch, there have been 33 million holders of digital collectibles, but adoption metrics have stalled since their peak in 2022. At the moment, secondary volumes have been under the $100,000 mark since the last quarter of 2024, with primary trading at an all-time low.

While the RCA is far from its pre-2023 highs, there is still a loyal community behind the collectibles. Many users have expressed fears that Wyler’s exit is the first domino in Reddit’s push to shutter the entire NFT project.

Others hold on to the fact that while Reddit can take away the utility and artwork of the collectibles, the actual tokens are “safe in the wallet.” Pundits opine that removing the utility equals sounding the death knell for the NFTs, effectively rendering them worthless for holders.

Reddit has yet to state its plans, but community members say that the decision to delete comments for Wyler’s Reddit accounts is sufficient proof that the end is in sight for the RCA.

Wyler’s statement did not provide enough clues for holders to piece together the future of the project, leaving