K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Meta to roll out its own Community Notes, acknowledges that fact-checkers failed

• Meta’s post-election rebrand continues with the rollout of its own “Community Notes.”

• “We won’t be reinventing the wheel,” Meta wrote in its post. “Initially, we will use X’s open-source algorithm as the basis of our rating system.”

• The new Community Notes rollout will hit all of Meta’s major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and will function similarly to how millions of X users see Community Notes on that platform.

• Figures ranging from Elon Musk to random accounts have been hit with Community Notes over the years since it’s been implemented, and Meta is taking notice of how they work.

Meta is continuing its post-election 2024 rebrand with a rollout of “Community Notes” — taking a page out of Elon Musk’s X playbook.

The new Community Notes implemented by Meta will operate similarly to those on the X platform. There, community moderators are able to fact-check posts in real-time.

In a memo obtained by the Washington Reporter, Meta acknowledges that its previous reliance on third-party fact-checkers failed and that its imitation of Musk’s X may be the highest form of flattery.

“We won’t be reinventing the wheel,” Meta wrote in its post. “Initially, we will use X’s open-source algorithm as the basis of our rating system. This will allow us to build on what X has created and improve it for our own platforms over time.”

Since President Donald Trump’s election, Meta and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, have made a plethora of moves to make amends with Trump and the GOP. Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and Zuckerberg was a prominent fixture at Trump’s celebrations in January. Meta also ended many of its DEI programs shortly before Trump returned to the White House.

The new Community Notes rollout will hit all of Meta’s major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and will function similarly to how millions of X users see Community Notes on that platform.

Figures ranging from Elon Musk to random accounts have been hit with Community Notes over the years since it’s been implemented, and Meta is taking notice of how they work.

“Independent research has shown programs like Community Notes have advantages over traditional third-party fact-checkers because they’re trusted by more people and can be more scalable,” Meta said.

The social media company added that “we believe Community Notes will be a better approach: less biased, more scalable, and ultimately we expect to have more people with more perspectives adding context on more types of content.”

Logistically, Meta said the firm’s plan is “to roll out Community Notes across the United States once we are comfortable from the initial beta testing that the program is working in broadly the way we believe it should, though we will continue to learn and improve it as we go.”

“Once Notes begin to appear publicly, no new fact-check labels from third-party fact-checkers will appear in the United States, though fact-checkers are free to become Community Notes contributors alongside other users of our platform,” the firm said. Mets faces potential scrutiny from FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Gail Slater the head of DOJ’s antitrust division. Zuckerberg has attempted to align himself with Trump after years of fierce opposition from Republicans.