Meta Updates Community Notes: New Features for Fact-Checking

Meta Enhances Community Notes with New Features

Meta is rolling out several updates to its Community Notes program, a crowdsourced fact-checking initiative that began in the United States earlier this year.

Users will now receive notifications when they have engaged with content on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads that has been supplemented by a Community Note.

Expanded User Participation

Furthermore, the ability to request notes or provide ratings on the helpfulness of existing notes has been extended to all users.

These additions are currently being implemented as “tests” according to the company.

Program Statistics to Date

Guy Rosen, Meta’s Chief Information Security Officer, revealed via X that since its inception, over 70,000 contributors have authored 15,000 notes.

However, only 6% of these submissions were ultimately published.

Considering the vast user base across Meta’s platforms in the U.S., this represents a relatively small proportion.

Similarities to X’s System

Meta’s Community Notes shares similarities with the system initially introduced by Twitter (now X) in 2021.

The X program has faced criticism for its limitations in promptly and effectively flagging misinformation.

This raises questions about whether Meta’s approach will prove more successful.

Consensus-Based Fact-Checking

Like X’s system, Community Notes are appended to posts when users with diverse perspectives – even those with differing ideologies – reach a consensus.

Challenges and Criticisms

While the system aims to highlight misinformation and posts lacking context, achieving the necessary consensus can be challenging.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a digital rights advocacy group, notes that misinformation can rapidly spread before corrections are applied.

A study cited by CDT found that over 70% of accurate notes concerning U.S. election misinformation were never displayed to users.

Concerns Regarding Platform Applicability

The organization also expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the system on visually-focused platforms like Instagram and Reels.

Penetrating private groups on Facebook also presents a potential hurdle.

Recommendations for Improvement

CDT suggests that Meta should incorporate metrics to track the visibility of corrected information.

They also advocate for public access to Community Notes data to enhance transparency.

Finally, the organization urges Meta to reconsider its decision to discontinue traditional fact-checking on the platform.