Facebook is copying X with new Community Note system

Summary

Facebook is replacing fact-checkers with Community Notes, citing political bias issues.
Meta is adjusting its content policies across its platforms, allowing more political content on user feeds.
Zuckerberg aims to reduce censorship, following Elon Musk’s approach with X.

Facebook is ditching its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with Community Notes. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook’s new Community Notes system will work similarly to X.

Zuckerberg made the announcement in a five-minute video he posted to his Facebook page. He says one of the reasons Facebook is doing away with fact-checkers is because they’ve become too “politically biased.” Facebook’s Community Note system will be phased in over the next few months.

“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far,” Zuckerberg said. “I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.”

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Meta is simplifying Facebook’s content policies

More political content will be on users feeds too

As part of the announcement, Zuckerberg said that Facebook is simplifying its content policies, such as removing restrictions on sensitive topics like immigration and gender. Additionally, Facebook will be changing how it enforces its policies to reduce censorship. It will be adjusting its content filters to focus on “illegal and high-severity violations.” Facebook will rely on its users to report low-severity violations rather than catching them with its own filters.

“We want to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement.” Meta said in a blog post. “It’s not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms.” Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook, Instagram and Threads will start increasing the amount of political content people see again after reducing it in 2021.

If all this sounds familiar to you, it’s likely because Meta’s CEO seems to be charting a similar path to what Elon Musk did when he first acquired X, formerly known as Twitter. Meta’s platforms might look different in the next few months due to these changes.