Meta pilots Community Notes in 16 Latin American countries, signalling shift from professional fact‑checking

Meta has initiated a pilot of its Community Notes feature in 16 Spanish-speaking countries across Latin America, marking a shift away from the professional fact-checking program it collaborates with in the region. This crowdsourced system, inspired by the one used by Elon Musk’s X, intends to replace fact-checking conducted by accredited newsrooms and fact-checking agencies, which Meta discontinued in the United States last year.

The company aims for Community Notes to become the primary method for providing context to misleading content on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, potentially rendering the fact-checking program obsolete. However, Meta has not set a timeline for this transition, stating that full implementation will only occur once they are confident in the product's effectiveness.

In the 16 selected countries, users can currently sign up as contributors, but no notes will be visible to the public during the testing phase; independent fact-checking will continue as usual. The participating nations include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Brazil, the region's biggest market for Meta's platforms, was excluded from this pilot. The International Fact-Checking Network, led by Angie Drobnic Holan, expressed deep concern over Meta's decision, stating that the Community Notes program alone is insufficient in mitigating the impact of harmful falsehoods on social media platforms.

The announcement follows a series of elections that have seen a shift towards right-wing parties in Latin America. These right-wing leaders, including those in the United States and Europe, are generally opposed to fact-checking programs on social media, often accusing them of political bias. Many of these newly elected leaders have vowed to maintain non-interference in governance, adopting tactics reminiscent of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and former US President Donald Trump, who utilized social media to project a popular image and propagate disinformation.

This strategic move by Meta coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the region, where leaders now align with the policies of the Trump administration. Prior to Donald Trump's second inauguration, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the discontinuation of US fact-checking partnerships with professional organizations, replacing them with Community Notes.

Echoing the sentiments of Republican leaders, Zuckerberg framed this move as a return to unfettered expression. Community Notes launched in the United States in March of the previous year, and three weeks later, they became publicly visible, marking the end of the US fact-checking program. At present, Meta's Community Notes feature has amassed over 1.4 million contributors in the US, who have generated more than 50,000 posts across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Notably, the quality of these notes has varied, with Meta reporting that only about six percent of the 15,000 notes produced in September were ultimately published. In March, the Oversight Board, an independent entity funded by Meta to review moderation decisions, cautioned that Community Notes are not a viable substitute for professional fact-checking in countries outside the United States, warning of potential human rights implications in politically polarized nations and during tense electoral periods.

Phil Chetwynd, the global news director of AFP, the news agency participating in Meta's program in Latin America and beyond, expressed disappointment, stating that AFP's verification teams in the region had delivered "outstanding work" over the past eight years, work that Meta has publicly acknowledged. Chetwynd emphasized that the two systems should not be considered alternatives, stressing that credible research indicates community notes can only be effective when contributors are equipped with accurate, ethically sourced, fact-checked journalism and other high-quality references when crafting their notes.

AFP's global news director asserted that fact-checking and community notes should work together, not replace each other, stressing the importance of the quality of notes over their quantity.