Meta is expanding its Community Notes crowdsourced fact-checking program with new features across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The update, announced this week, will notify users when they’ve interacted with posts that later receive a Community Note. In addition, anyone can now request a note or rate whether an existing note was helpful.
Meta launched Community Notes in the U.S. earlier this year as part of its efforts to combat misinformation. According to Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen, more than 70,000 contributors have written around 15,000 notes so far, though only about 6% have been published. While that’s a small fraction given Meta’s vast U.S. user base, the company says these new features are currently “tests” to improve the system’s scale and accuracy.
The program mirrors X’s (formerly Twitter’s) Community Notes, first introduced in 2021, where fact-checks are only published if contributors with differing viewpoints reach consensus. While this model can help reduce bias, researchers have criticized its effectiveness, warning that misinformation often spreads virally before consensus is reached.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) raised further concerns about Meta’s approach, questioning whether Community Notes can work in highly visual spaces like Instagram Reels or within private Facebook Groups. The nonprofit also urged Meta to make Notes data publicly accessible for transparency, measure how often corrections are actually seen, and reconsider its decision to end partnerships with professional fact-checkers.
With growing scrutiny on how misinformation spreads online, Meta’s Community Notes expansion highlights both the promise and limitations of crowdsourced fact-checking.
