Google has refused to add fact-checks to YouTube videos and search results despite a new European Law. This news comes off the heels of Meta putting an end to fact-checking. Jeremy Blackburn, a computer scientist at Binghamton University, State University of New York who researches toxic behavior online, believes that community moderation can be a solution but the situation is complicated.
"Zuckerberg directly mentioned that they are going to move to a program along the lines of what Twitter has (Community Notes)," said Blackburn. "Community Notes, and Birdwatch before it, have been relatively effective in my opinion. One of the more difficult problems with moderation is scaling, and systems that leverage an existing userbase are a pretty straightforward solution. In fact, they are likely better solutions than hard moderation policies (e.g., banning users or content) which my and others' work has shown often leads to the users creating their own alternative platforms and in some cases exhibiting worse behavior.
Blackburn said at the same time, leaving it entirely up to the community to self-regulate is definitely going to have consequences.
"While harnessing the wisdom of the crowd is efficient, it isn’t always accurate. There is also the risk that the mechanism itself is exploited. There is already some evidence of this on Twitter, with Community Notes being used for things past fact checking, including personal attacks and a mechanism to spread hate speech and conspiracy theories. The bottom line is that any moderation system will have holes, and Community Notes type systems give potential "attackers" direct access to moderation tools.
He also thinks it’s impossible to discuss this situation without viewing it in the broader context of the world’s current socio-political concerns.
"Tight (perhaps overly so) moderation practices have been the norm for several years now and have played major roles in world events. For example, consider Trump being banned from Twitter due to his behavior during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Considering the current political climate, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, it is likely in social platforms’ best interest to enforce policies that are in congruence with the incoming administration, regardless of any other factors. I think it could be argued that this is actually an existential concern for large social media platforms."
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