Meta has announced that U.S. users aged 18 and older can now sign up to become contributors to its new Community Notes feature, which will be available on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This initiative replaces Meta’s previous third-party fact-checking program and adopts a crowdsourced approach similar to the Community Notes feature on X (formerly Twitter).
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Key Details About Community Notes
Eligibility: To join, users must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Reside in the United States.
- Have a Meta account that is over six months old and in good standing.
- Verify their phone number or enable two-factor authentication.
Functionality
- Contributors can write notes on public posts they find misleading or confusing, providing background information, tips, or context.
- Notes are limited to 500 characters and must include a hyperlink for reference.
- For a note to appear on a post, contributors with differing viewpoints must agree that the note is helpful. If consensus is not reached, the note will not be displayed.
Rollout Timeline: The feature will be introduced in the U.S. over the next few months. Meta has not announced plans for expansion to other countries.
Meta’s Approach
This shift reflects Meta’s strategy to decentralize content moderation by empowering users to address misinformation collaboratively. However, like X’s version of Community Notes, this system relies on agreement across ideological divides, which may limit its effectiveness in addressing politically charged or divisive content.