## Colophon tags:: url:: https://www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/ date:: [[]] %% title:: Meta surrenders to the right on speech type:: [[clipped-note]] author:: [[@platformer.news]] %% ## Notes > Start with the end of Meta's fact-checking partnerships, which perhaps generated the most headlines of the company's changes on Tuesday. While the company has been gradually lowering its investment in fact-checking for a couple years now, Meta's abandonment of the project will have real effects: on the fact-checking organizations for whom Meta was a primary source of revenue, but also in the Facebook and Instagram feeds of which Meta is an increasingly begrudging steward. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/zlQNGs2mEe-7g68L3YUmCQ/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: Yes, it would be useful to have numbers around this. How much has this been reduced over the last few years?> He took exception on Tuesday to Zuckerberg's statement that "the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased, and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US." — [view in context](https://hyp.is/70CgxM2mEe-qyVtjS1-gVA/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: Yes, this is something I pointed in my annotated notes as well. Really seemed like he was throwing them under the bus.> "He chose to ignore research that shows that politically asymmetric interventions against misinformation can result from politically asymmetric sharing of misinformation," Mantzarlis said. "He chose to ignore that a large chunk of the content fact-checkers are flagging is likely not political in nature, but low-quality spammy clickbait that his platforms have commodified. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/_5AR-M2mEe-6D3flKlfCOQ/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) > And while Community Notes has shown some promise on X, a former Twitter executive reminded me today that volunteer content moderation has its limits. Community Notes rarely appear on content outside the United States, and often take longer to appear on viral posts than traditional fact checks. There is also little to no empirical evidence that Community Notes are effective at harm reduction. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/f-YHfM2nEe-ENc-1wZZZ4Q/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: I don't think it is anyone's contention that crowd-sourced moderation is perfect / will fix everything. My sense is that they could have co-existed, but I don't think we got to see this on any major platform to judge how that would work. (Not going to use Wikipedia as an example here)> Another wrinkle: many Community Notes currently cite as evidence fact-checks created by the fact-checking organizations that Meta just canceled all funding for. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/iyDXUs2nEe-gMju2X4mkSg/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: This could be a problem.> "I can't tell you how much harm comes from non-illegal but harmful content," a longtime former trust and safety employee at the company told me. The classifiers that the company is now switching off meaningfully reduced the spread of hate movements on Meta's platforms, they said. "This is not the climate change debate, or pro-life vs. pro-choice. This is degrading, horrible content that leads to violence and that has the intent to harm other people." — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Axbz9M2oEe-ceeOapLr9PA/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) > Start with the end of Meta's fact-checking partnerships, which perhaps generated the most headlines of the company's changes on Tuesday. While the company has been gradually lowering its investment in fact-checking for a couple years now, Meta's abandonment of the project will have real effects: on the fact-checking organizations for whom Meta was a primary source of revenue, but also in the Facebook and Instagram feeds of which Meta is an increasingly begrudging steward. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/zlQNGs2mEe-7g68L3YUmCQ/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: Yes, it would be useful to have numbers around this. How much has this been reduced over the last few years?> He took exception on Tuesday to Zuckerberg's statement that "the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased, and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US." — [view in context](https://hyp.is/70CgxM2mEe-qyVtjS1-gVA/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: Yes, this is something I pointed in my annotated notes as well. Really seemed like he was throwing them under the bus.> "He chose to ignore research that shows that politically asymmetric interventions against misinformation can result from politically asymmetric sharing of misinformation," Mantzarlis said. "He chose to ignore that a large chunk of the content fact-checkers are flagging is likely not political in nature, but low-quality spammy clickbait that his platforms have commodified. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/_5AR-M2mEe-6D3flKlfCOQ/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) > And while Community Notes has shown some promise on X, a former Twitter executive reminded me today that volunteer content moderation has its limits. Community Notes rarely appear on content outside the United States, and often take longer to appear on viral posts than traditional fact checks. There is also little to no empirical evidence that Community Notes are effective at harm reduction. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/f-YHfM2nEe-ENc-1wZZZ4Q/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: I don't think it is anyone's contention that crowd-sourced moderation is perfect / will fix everything. My sense is that they could have co-existed, but I don't think we got to see this on any major platform to judge how that would work. (Not going to use Wikipedia as an example here)> Another wrinkle: many Community Notes currently cite as evidence fact-checks created by the fact-checking organizations that Meta just canceled all funding for. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/iyDXUs2nEe-gMju2X4mkSg/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/) - Annotation: This could be a problem.> "I can't tell you how much harm comes from non-illegal but harmful content," a longtime former trust and safety employee at the company told me. The classifiers that the company is now switching off meaningfully reduced the spread of hate movements on Meta's platforms, they said. "This is not the climate change debate, or pro-life vs. pro-choice. This is degrading, horrible content that leads to violence and that has the intent to harm other people." — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Axbz9M2oEe-ceeOapLr9PA/www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/)