The goal begins on Tuesday, 18, the tests of “community notes” on Facebook, Instagram and Threads in the US. The feature, similar to what already exists in the X (former Twitter), will allow users to add context to posts, with the aim of combating platform disinformation. The initiative marks the end of the company’s partnership with facts independent of facts.
Initial tests will be restricted to a group of up to 200,000 people who will be able to write and evaluate notes on shared content on social networks. The implementation will be gradual and, at first, the notes will not be visible to all users. According to the goal, the expansion to a wider audience will depend on the effectiveness of the system and the participation of the community.
With the new model, any user over 18 years old and active accounts for at least six months can contribute, provided that he has a registered telephone number or use the verification in two factors. The notes will have a limit of 500 characters and will need to include a link to a source of proof. In addition, the evaluations will be made anonymously, in order to prevent any attacks on the author.
Initially, the “community notes” will be available in six languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Portuguese. The company plans to expand the resource to other countries in the future, but there is still no release expected outside the US. Until then, the partnership with facts checking agencies will remain active in other markets, including Brazil.
The goal states that the system will be collaborative and that there will be no direct interference from the company in selecting the notes displayed. Contributions will only be published if a diversified group of users agree that they provide a relevant context. If there is significant disagreement, the grade will not be included in the post until a broader consensus is reached.
The implementation of “community notes” occurs in the context of a change of target strategy in content moderation. Since 2016, the company has maintained partnerships with facts checking agencies to evaluate posts considered misleading. However, the CEO of the goal, Mark Zuckerberg, has advocated an allegedly more open approach to freedom of expression, in line with the US political turn after Donald Trump’s reelection in late 2024.
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Zuckerberg has already criticized governments interference with content moderation and even mentioned that Latin American countries operate “secret courts” to censor social networks. The decision to replace independent checkers with a collective moderation system reinforces this change in the company’s posture.
Unlike previous fact checks, the “community notes” will not restrict the reach of posts that receive corrections or contextualizations. The goal argues that this model is less susceptible to organized campaigns to manipulate moderation and believes it can reach a larger scale than the previous program.
The technology used in the tool is based on the X -system open source, created in 2021. The algorithm analyzes user behavior patterns and seeks to ensure that evaluations reflect a diversity of opinions. The goal intends to improve this system as it receives feedback from participants and observes its operation in practice.
