Fact-checking partners Meta claimed they were “blindsided” by the company’s decision to abandon third-party fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in favor of the Community Notes model, and some said they were now scrambling to understand that they “We heard the news like everyone else, ” said Alan Duke, cofounder and editor at the fact-checking site Lead Stories, which he started. working with Meta in 2019. “No previous news.” The news that Meta no longer plans to use the service was announced in a blog post by global affairs chief Joel Kaplan on Tuesday morning and a video from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, the company plans to rely on X-style Community Notes, which allow users to flag content they think is inaccurate or needs further explanation. Meta partners with dozens of fact-checking organizations and newsrooms around the world, 10 based in the US, where Meta’s new rules will be applied first. CABLE. The organization started working with Meta in 2019, and has 10 people working in the newsroom. “This was completely unexpected and out of left field for us. We didn’t know this decision was being considered until Mark released the video last night. We didn’t know what the future of the website would be going forward,” Stiller said. Duke said Lead Stories has different revenue streams and most of its operations outside the U.S., but he claimed that decision will be made soon. it still has an effect on them. “The most painful part of this is losing an excellent, experienced journalist who will no longer be paid to research the false claims found on the Meta platform,” Duke said. For others, the financial implications are more difficult. One editor at a US-based fact-checking organization working with Meta, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told WIRED that Meta’s decision “will blow us away.” Meta did not respond to a request for comment. about the partner’s accusations or the financial impact that his decision will have on some organization. ecosystem globally,” said Alexios Mantzarlis, who helped create the first partnership between fact-checkers and Facebook between 2015 and 2019 as director of the International Fact Checking Network. According to Duke, he was disappointed to hear Mark Zuckerberg accuse the third-party organization Meta USA. fact-checking program that ” political exaggeration”. “Let me fact-check that Lead Stories follows the highest journalistic and ethical standards required by the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles regardless of where the political spectrum comes from.
