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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that the social media company’s fact-checking programs will end raises concerns about how easily misinformation will spread through its platforms. Zuckerberg has stood firm, contending that shifting to a crowdsourced fact-checking method will make user experiences better on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Virginia Tech communications experts and and digital literacy expert offer insights as to how effective crowdsourced fact-checking could be, what would motivate Meta to make these changes, and what users on these platforms should keep in mind to guard against misinformation.

Megan Duncan on the effectiveness of crowdsourced fact-checking

“The move by Zuckerberg, which copies X’s Community Notes approach to checking misinformation, is a move toward a populist social media approach to truth. It adopts the view that what average people agree on is the truth, privileging that over the view of experts who have closely studied the issue. There are many dedicated journalists who care about fairly presenting the facts, and because of Zuckerberg's decision some journalists may lose their jobs,” Duncan said.

“Research I’ve done found that the type of crowdsourcing done for social media Community Notes is vulnerable to political bias. Under study conditions that closely resembled the function of social media community notes, when participants were presented with a choice whether or not to contribute, only those with the most extreme opinions chose to weigh in. This means that in a Community Notes program where politically ambivalent audiences aren’t required to participate, the results of crowdsourced credibility labels are politically skewed,” she said.

“The process is also much slower than it takes to spread misinformation, allowing an idea that is contradicted by all evidence to influence public opinion,” Duncan said.

“For that matter, even if Community Notes could effectively identify misinformation, there’s still the question whether it’s effective at correcting an audience’s opinions about facts,” she said. “A study I co-authored showed that those willing to change their minds in response to confirmation or correction of facts were mostly politically independent. People who identified as conservative or liberal didn’t change their opinion about what they considered to be true, even if their beliefs were contradicted by evidence presented in a Community Notes format.”

Cayce Myers on what the change at Meta signifies

“Meta is changing its content monitoring and enforcement strategies to align with shifting political realities in the United States, as well as market competition and consumer demands of social media.  Emphasizing tools like Community Notes and relocating trust and safety operations from California to Texas because of perceived bias, Meta is signaling an increasing prioritization of civic engagement, positioning the company strategically in response to widespread criticism and backlash against legacy media and perceived suppression of voices, especially more conservative ones,” Myers said.

“The change is intended to maintain Meta's dominance within social media, and ensures it is competitive against other platforms, notably X — formerly Twitter — that have moved away from these stringent monitoring and enforcement practices,” he said.

Julia Feerrar on how Meta users should guard against misinformation

 “At a time when many people are overwhelmed and frustrated with online misinformation, Meta is placing even more responsibility on users to verify information for themselves. While crowdsourcing may have some benefits in the abstract, I have concerns about how it will play out, especially as those with professional training are excluded. Professionally trained fact-checkers play a vital role in our media landscape,” Feerrar said. 

“Depending on how Meta approaches their Community Notes, divisive issues may still be a place that crowdsourcing falls short of accurately evaluating information. My top recommendation is to take more time with social media content that sparks a big reaction for you. Strong feelings are a good indicator that it’s worth taking a moment to open a search engine to see where the information is coming from and if other sources are reporting the same thing,” she said.  

“Meta’s announcement also highlights some of the challenges inherent in using social media to keep up with news. If you haven’t already, look beyond social media for your major news consumption. Social media algorithms will show you topics you’ve engaged with previously, so it can be easy to miss out on other news. Check out your options for news aggregators and daily digests,” Feerrar said.

“This is also a great moment to reflect on how you want to engage with social media in general,” she said. “Take stock of your settings and content preferences, which influence the kinds of posts you see most often. Reflect on where and how you want to spend your time online.”

About Duncan

is an associate professor in the at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on how partisans judge the credibility of and engage with the news. Using survey-embedded experiments, surveys, and other quantitative methods, she’s interested in knowing more about audiences, their perceptions of the news, how they form opinions, and how to use this knowledge to make democracy stronger.  Read more .

About Myers
Cayce Myers is a professor of public relations and director of graduate studies at the at Virginia Tech. His work focuses on media history, political communication, and laws that affect public relations practice. He is the author of “Public Relations History: Theory, Practice, and Profession” and “Profession and Money in Politics: Campaign Fundraising in the 2020 Presidential Election.” Read more .       

About Feerrar 
Julia Feerrar is a librarian and digital literacy educator. She is an associate professor at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech and head of the . Her interests include digital well-being, combatting mis/disinformation, and digital citizenship. Read more .    

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