Meta Launches Community Notes Trial in Latin America Amid Concerns from Fact-Checkers
Meta is launching an international trial of its Community Notes initiative, expanding its reach to 16 Latin American countries following a year of operation in the United States. This move comes after the company ended its collaboration with American fact-checking organizations.
The rollout will initially focus on Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. During this testing phase, contributors will be welcomed to submit notes aimed at providing “additional context” to content on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. However, these notes will not be visible to users, and existing third-party fact-checking processes will remain unchanged for now, as stated in a blog post published in Spanish.
Meta hints at plans for Community Notes to eventually supplant current fact-checking mechanisms in these regions. The company noted that once they are confident in the product’s performance, they will consider a comprehensive launch that includes publishing Community Notes and phasing out current partnerships with fact-checkers.
The prospect of replacing established fact-checking systems has raised concerns among fact-checking organizations. The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), in a statement released through Poynter, expressed serious apprehensions over this development, stating that the community notes alone are insufficient for managing the impact of misleading information on social media platforms.
The Oversight Board, which has previously cautioned Meta about the risks involved in implementing Community Notes outside the U.S., also expressed its unease. In a statement, the board advised Meta not to see Community Notes as a substitute for comprehensive fact-checking, stressing the need to employ a variety of strategies to effectively combat misinformation while upholding freedom of expression.
Earlier this year, the board published an extensive 15,000-word report recommending that Community Notes should not replace traditional fact-checking efforts. “Both systems can coexist and serve valuable purposes,” said board co-chair Paolo Carozza, emphasizing their importance in certain contexts.
In its guidance, the board highlighted the potential dangers of launching Community Notes in nations marked by intense political polarization, ongoing conflict, or established disinformation campaigns. According to the IFCN, Meta appears to overlook these warnings.
“Testing Community Notes in countries experiencing such issues raises concern. For instance, Nicaragua is currently under a regime that has eliminated elections and carries out arbitrary detentions of dissenters. There are well-documented disinformation operations in El Salvador and Ecuador, while Venezuela endures ongoing instability,” the IFCN pointed out.
In response to inquiries about these criticisms, a Meta spokesperson did not address them directly but reiterated that there are currently “no changes to our third-party fact-checking program.” According to the company, Community Notes has successfully engaged 1.4 million contributors in the United States.
Skepticism about the effectiveness of Meta’s initiative compared to traditional methods has also emerged. A report from the publication Indicator revealed that only 3 percent of Instagram posts debunked by the AFP’s U.S. bureau since last April had received a Community Note. This suggests that the crowd-sourced model may be overlooking a considerable number of posts deemed important by traditional fact-checkers.
