On Thursday, Meta Platforms Inc. announced the launch of tests for its new "Community Notes" feature beginning March 18. This initiative represents a departure from the company's past dependence on external fact-checkers, moving instead to a crowd-sourced approach to content moderation.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the system in January, coinciding with political shifts in the U.S. following the election of former President Donald Trump.

The announcement comes amid allegations from Trump supporters that conservative viewpoints are being suppressed under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim rebuffed by professional fact-checkers.

Simultaneously, Meta has reportedly diminished its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation guidelines, especially concerning certain forms of hostile speech.

The company’s ongoing fact-checking program, which partners with organizations like AFP across 26 languages, will maintain its operations until the new system is completely rolled out in other countries.

The Community Notes initiative will enable users on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to add notes and context ratings to various content.

Around 200,000 users in the U.S. have already registered as potential contributors.

To be eligible, participants must be at least 18 years old, have accounts older than six months, and be in good standing.

During the testing period, the notes submitted will not be instantly visible alongside posts.

Meta intends to gradually onboard participants from a waitlist while thoroughly testing the system.

The company emphasized that the visibility of the notes will rely on contributors with varying perspectives achieving a consensus on their value, asserting, "This isn't majority rules." Furthermore, unlike flagged content subject to fact-checking, posts linked to Community Notes will not incur distribution penalties.

Contributors will be restricted to 500 characters and must provide supporting links.

Initially, the feature will be available in six commonly spoken languages in the United States: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Portuguese.

Meta aims to eventually implement this approach globally, though it stated that the rollout will not happen immediately.

In the meantime, traditional third-party fact-checking processes will remain in effect in other regions.

Additionally, Meta plans to build its Community Notes system on an open-source algorithm borrowed from X (formerly Twitter).

Concerns have been raised about the potential consequences of this shift, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning that such reductions in fact-checking and moderation could result in a rise in hate speech and online violence.