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Meta replaces fact-checking with X-style community notes

CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes are in part sparked by political events including Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. (AFP/File)
CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes are in part sparked by political events including Donald Trump’s presidential election victory. (AFP/File)
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Updated 07 January 2025

Meta replaces fact-checking with X-style community notes

Meta replaces fact-checking with X-style community notes
  • Meta cited bias and excessive content reviews as key factor in ending fact-checking program
  • The social media company also announced plans to allow “more speech” by easing restrictions on discussions of mainstream topics like immigration and gender

LONDON: Facebook and Instagram owner Meta said Tuesday it’s scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with a Community Notes program written by users similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Starting in the US, Meta will end its fact-checking program with independent third parties. The company said it decided to end the program because expert fact checkers had their own biases and too much content ended up being fact checked.
Instead, it will pivot to a Community Notes model that uses crowdsourced fact-checking contributions from users.
“We’ve seen this approach work on X – where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context,” Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in a blog post.
The social media company also said it plans to allow “more speech” by lifting some restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discussion in order to focus on illegal and “high severity violations” like terrorism, child sexual exploitation and drugs.
Meta said that its approach of building complex systems to manage content on its platforms has “gone too far” and has made “too many mistakes” by censoring too much content.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the changes are in part sparked by political events including Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said in an online video.
Meta’s quasi-independent Oversight Board, which was set up to act as a referee on controversial content decisions, said it welcomed the changes and looked forward to working with the company “to understand the changes in greater detail, ensuring its new approach can be as effective and speech-friendly as possible.”


Britain’s BBC boss Tim Davie resigns following criticism over Trump documentary edit

Britain’s BBC boss Tim Davie resigns following criticism over Trump documentary edit
Updated 09 November 2025

Britain’s BBC boss Tim Davie resigns following criticism over Trump documentary edit

Britain’s BBC boss Tim Davie resigns following criticism over Trump documentary edit
  • BBC was accused of bias over Trump, Gaza
  • White House had accused the BBC of being a “propaganda machine“
  • BBC board stunned by Davie’s resignation — source

LONDON: The director general of Britain’s BBC, Tim Davie, and the chief executive of news, Deborah Turness, have resigned following criticism over bias at the corporation, including in the way it edited a speech by US President Donald Trump.

The BBC has been embroiled in a spate of allegations that it had failed to maintain political neutrality in its reporting, including in its coverage of Trump and the Israel-Hamas war.

In the most recent controversy, the Daily Telegraph had reported for days on an internal document produced by a former BBC adviser on standards who had listed a raft of errors, including in the way a speech by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, was edited.

The document suggested the flagship Panorama program had edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.

“This is entirely my decision, and I remain very thankful to the Chair and Board for their unswerving and unanimous support throughout my entire tenure, including during recent days,” Davie said in a statement.

“I have been reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times, combined with the fact that I want to give a successor time to help shape the Charter plans they will be delivering.”

Trump in the BBC documentary was shown telling his supporters that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and that they would “fight like hell,” a comment he made in a different part of his speech.

Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the BBC as “100 percent fake news” and a “propaganda machine” in an interview published on Friday.

Davie will stay on for the next few months while a replacement is found.

A person familiar with the situation said Davie’s decision had left the BBC board stunned by the move.