coalition of Indonesian fact-checking institutions has denounced Meta’s decision to scrap its fact-checking program in the United States, raising concerns that the tech company may do the same in other countries, exacerbating the spread of false information over digital platforms.
In a statement issued on Jan. 7, Meta announced its decision to end the current third-party fact-checking program in the US and replace it with a system of “community notes” generated from users; an approach used by Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
"We've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. It's time to get back to our roots around free expression," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video accompanying the statement.
The changes will affect Facebook, Instagram and Threads, three of the world’s largest social media platforms with more than 3 billion users globally.
The decision was met with criticism from cekfakta.com, an official fact-checking website created in a collaborative project involving dozens of mainstream media organizations in Indonesia. The group said shutting down the fact-checking program in the US may lead to similar decisions for the company’s programs in other countries.
“Such a policy can weaken the efforts to fight against false information in Meta platforms, especially in countries with low levels of digital literacy,” cekfakta.com wrote in a statement issued on Friday.
“This policy from Meta may also trigger the massive spread of hoaxes and propaganda in the country, thanks to the huge numbers of users for the company’s platforms in Indonesia.”
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