Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program in the U.S. and Shifts to Community-Driven Moderation

Starting April 6, 2025, Meta* will discontinue its fact-checking program in the United States, as announced by Joel Kaplan, the corporation’s Chief of Global Affairs. The company will halt the recruitment of fact-checking professionals in the country.

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that the external fact-checking program in the U.S. will be replaced by a community-driven system. He attributed this shift to the evolving political and social landscape and an emphasis on free speech. Alongside this change, Meta has also relaxed its content moderation guidelines.

Rather than implementing fact-checks, initial community notes will gradually start appearing on Facebook**, Instagram**, and Threads without any penalties, Kaplan assured.

Meta’s new fact-checking initiative will be modeled after Community Notes in the X social network. This system allows community members to take on some moderation responsibilities instead of having paid professionals handle them.

The community-based content moderation approach can provide essential context for misleading or controversial posts in certain cases. However, it tends to be more effective when used alongside other tools, which Meta is now discontinuing.

The corporation will continue to rely on its external fact-checking program outside the U.S., with plans to expand Community Notes to more countries in the future.

<sub>Meta Platforms*, as well as its associated social networks Facebook** and Instagram**:
* — designated as an extremist organization, its operations are banned in Russia;
** — banned in Russia.</sub>