Disinformation experts slam Meta decision to end US fact-checking
WASHINGTON, United States — Tech giant Meta's shock announcement that it is ending its US fact-checking program triggered scathing criticism Tuesday from disinformation researchers who warned it risked opening the floodgates for false narratives.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was going to "get rid" of its third-party fact-checkers in the United States, in a sweeping policy shift that analysts saw as an attempt to appease US President-elect Donald Trump.
"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, co-founder of the nonprofit Centre for Information Resilience.
Fact-checking and disinformation research have long been a hot-button issue in a hyperpolarized political climate in the United States, with conservative US advocates saying they were a tool to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.
Trump's Republican Party and his billionaire ally Elon Musk -- the owner of social media giant X, formerly Twitter -- have long echoed similar complaints.
"While efforts to protect free expression are vital, removing fact-checking without a credible alternative risks opening the floodgates to more harmful narratives," Burley said.
As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use "Community Notes similar to X" in the United States.
Community Notes is a crowd-sourced moderation tool that X has promoted as the way for users to add context to posts, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods.
"You wouldn't rely on just anyone to stop your toilet from leaking, but Meta now seeks to rely on just anyone to stop misinformation from spreading on their platforms," Michael Wagner, from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told AFP.
"Asking people, pro bono, to police the false claims that get posted on Meta's multi-billion dollar social media platforms is an abdication of social responsibility."
Meta's announcement represents a financial setback for its US-based third-party fact-checkers.
Meta's program and external
