Community Notes for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will start appearing for US users on March 18th.
The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced sweeping changes to the company’s moderation system in January. Central to this was the decision to ditch third-party moderators and instead adopt a model like the one used on X.
Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, defended the decision, arguing that “too much harmless content gets censored.” However, alarm bells were immediately rung about a potential spike in hate speech, but the main concern is that it’s clearly a cynical attempt to curry favor with the new president.
What Will Moderation Now Look Like?
The key difference is that instead of third-party moderators, the social media platforms will now be “policed” by users. These contributors have been able to apply for a role since February.
These special users will be able to provide notes that directly fact-check a post on any of these platforms. Their suggestions will then be rated by other contributors as helpful or not helpful. It is this that will then determine how the Community Note appears on screen to your average user.
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2025 👨💻
Using an algorithm, the system will determine which contributors tend to have opposing views and a Note will only appear if both sides agree that it is helpful. This means that not all Notes will be published.
The social media giant adds that if a post does carry a Note, it will not be downranked.
Collaboration with X
Meta is actually using X’s open-source algorithm to evaluate Community Notes, according to CNBC.
“As X’s algorithm and program information is open source — meaning free and available for anyone to use— we can build on what X has done, learn from the researchers who have studied it, and improve the system for our own platforms.” – Meta spokesperson
However, it adds that it may look at other options as time goes by. “As our own version develops, we may explore different or adjusted algorithms to support how Community Notes are ranked and rated,” it said.
Cause for Concern
Despite Meta’s upbeat insistence that all will be fine, there are rising voices of concern. Indeed the co-chair of Meta’s own oversight board told BBC News that there were “huge problems” with what had been announced. Helle Thorning-Schmidt spoke about worries that marginalized groups could be targeted. She went as far as to state that there were “extremely dangerous times ahead” for social media users and democracy.
Holding X’s model up as an exemplar is hardly confidence building after all. Elon Musk, owner of X, has slashed his moderation team, welcomed back banned users (including Donald Trump) and the platform has seen a terrifying spike in hateful activity, including racist slurs.
Concerns about content have been so high that advertisers voted with their feet and have left the platform in their droves.
Zuckerberg and team will be watching the impact of the new model in the US. Meta has chosen to use its home country as a testing ground, and hasn’t rolled it out in any other nation. This is, perhaps, not least because the EU is already stating its concerns.
This new moderation model is going to be received very differently outside of the US. Other countries will be monitoring what happens to content stateside and will no doubt be feeding back any concerns to Meta.