Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change
Meta’s decision to remove fact-checkers from its platforms and replace them with user-generated community notes has sparked concerns around mis and disinformation online.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week that the company sought to encourage free expression and reduce censorship on its platforms. He also accused third-party fact-checkers of being “politically biased” and destroying more trust than they created.
The company, which is responsible for Facebook, Instagram and Threads, reportedly has more than three billion users active on at least one of its platforms.
While the Meta reportedly has “no plans” to remove fact-checkers outside the US, the move could set a dangerous precedent for perpetrators of falsehoods and seemingly overlooks online echo chambers aimed at polarising society on different topics.
“We’re going to simplify our content policies and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.
“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far, so I’m going to make sure the people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms,” he said.
Zuckerberg’s introduction of community notes on Meta follows the trajectory taken by Elon Musk on X (formerly Twitter). On the platform, users can sign up to become community note contributors upon meeting a few requirements including, at the time of this article, having not violated X’s rules since 1 January 2023 and having a verified cellphone number, among others.
According to Meltwater, an online media monitoring company, while community notes on X may aid in the fight against mis and disinformation by allowing contributors to “add context to content”, they apply to posts that the public has already seen.
In addition, “Not all community notes will become visible to users — only those that receive enough helpful ratings”. It’s unclear whether Meta’s community notes implementation will be similar to X’s.
Mis and disinformation in SA
In the lead-up to last year’s national elections, various organisations, including the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC), uncovered widespread mis and disinformation centred around allegations that the elections were being rigged.
Perpetrators of this narrative, who also amplified it during and after the elections, supplemented their allegations with visual images meant to serve as evidence for vote rigging. These actions undermined the electoral process and portrayed the IEC as incapable of running the elections.
Equally vulnerable to online manipulation is the topic of immigrants in South Africa. For years, perpetrators of mis and disinformation have made unsubstantiated claims about immigrants, generally calling for their deportation. The CABC has previously revealed how the online anti-immigrant conversation was also being mobilised for political gain.
Social media works in echo chambers. In 2020 the CABC exposed how online accounts fanned the flames of xenophobia online, influencing thousands of accounts to spread similar anti-immigrant messaging.
Will community notes be effective in tackling misinformation if individuals share beliefs that immigrants are largely responsible for crime in South Africa, as frequently alleged?
Other areas of concern include Covid-19 vaccine-related misinformation at the peak of the pandemic, which endangered public health and safety through fuelling hesitancy.
Evolving strategies
Perpetrators of mis and disinformation use different strategies to make false information seem factual. These include using visual material to substantiate lies and relying on the absence of readily available stats to drive a particular narrative, as is often done in the online anti-immigrant conversation.
Fact-checking goes beyond verifying information and extends to detecting repeat offenders who continuously share mis and disinformation online.
Removing fact-checkers not only leaves the public more susceptible to mis and disinformation but raises questions on where we draw the line between free expression and truth. To paraphrase Nobel Laureate, Maria Ressa, who emphasised that without facts there are no truths and without truth, there is no democracy. The threats are real.
The jury is out on whether community notes will be effective enough to adapt to the ever-evolving strategies of those distorting facts to serve their ends.
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