Meta is expanding its Community Notes program in the United States, adding new features to its crowdsourced fact-checking system. This update notifies users when posts they engaged with on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads receive a Community Note. Users can now also request notes for specific posts and rate existing notes for helpfulness. Meta describes these additions as experimental tests.
Guy Rosen, Meta CISO, reported that over 70,000 contributors have authored 15,000 notes, with 6% of these published through the system.
How Meta Community Notes work
The Community Notes system functions similarly to a program X (formerly Twitter) launched in 2021. Both initiatives aim to reduce misinformation by attaching user-generated notes to potentially misleading posts. The system relies on contributors from diverse backgrounds to reach a consensus on content accuracy and context, improving fact-checking reliability across social media platforms.
Challenges for Community Notes
Despite its goals, Meta Community Notes faces criticism regarding its effectiveness in addressing rapidly spreading misinformation. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) found that over 70% of accurate notes on U.S. election misinformation were not displayed to users. The CDT also questioned the system’s suitability for visual platforms like Instagram and Reels, and its limited impact within closed communities such as private Facebook Groups.
The CDT recommends that Meta implement metrics to track the reach of corrected content, publicly release Community Notes data for transparency, and reconsider discontinuing traditional fact-checking programs on its platforms.
Meta’s ongoing development of Community Notes shows its commitment to combating misinformation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. By enhancing user alerts, note requests, and contributor ratings, the program aims to make crowdsourced fact-checking more effective and transparent.
