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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Meta announced on January 7, 2025, that it would end its third-party fact-checking program in the United States and replace it with Community Notes. The US program ended on April 7, 2025, but the change did not end all moderation, and it was not a global shutdown. Meta also announced changes to some topic restrictions, enforcement priorities, and political-content recommendations.
What changed, and when?
Meta announced the changes on January 7, 2025. It said its US third-party fact-checking program would end and that it would move toward a Community Notes model. Meta described the decision as a way to reduce enforcement mistakes and restore free expression; those are the company’s stated reasons, not independently established findings.
The transition took place in stages. On March 13, Meta said contributors could begin writing and rating notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads on March 18. Notes would not initially be shown publicly while Meta tested the writing, rating, and algorithmic systems. On April 7, Meta said the US fact-checking program was ending and that notes would start appearing gradually as testing continued.
Meta said around 200,000 potential contributors had signed up across its three apps by March 13, 2025. That was a signup or waitlist figure—not a count of active contributors, published notes, or people who saw a note.
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What are Community Notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads?
Community Notes are short explanations written by eligible contributors and rated by other contributors. Meta’s launch description said a note would be published only when contributors with differing viewpoints agreed it was helpful—not simply when it won a majority vote. At launch, notes were limited to 500 characters and had to include a supporting link. Meta initially said contributors could write notes about most content, including posts from politicians and public figures, but not ads.
Those launch details should not all be assumed to describe the current interface. Meta’s current Community Notes information says ads, Reels, Stories, and posts with limited audiences are among the excluded content. It also says anyone may request a note, while eligible contributors decide whether to write one. Notes may appear on content viewable by people in the United States even if the person who posted it is elsewhere.
Meta’s current contributor requirements specify that contributors must be based in the United States, be at least 18, have an account that is more than six months old and in good standing, and have either a verified phone number or two-factor authentication enabled. Meta’s 2025 Human Rights Report confirms that the company launched Community Notes in the United States during 2025.
Meta said it would not write notes or choose which ones appear once the program was operating. That was the company’s description of its intended system: Meta’s current product information still says it enforces its Community Standards on contributors and notes.
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How was the former fact-checking program different?
Meta set the rules and retained enforcement authority under the former system. Partner fact-checking organizations assessed claims and published fact-checks; they did not have the power to remove posts. PolitiFact reported that Meta could instead attach warning labels linking to a fact-check and reduce the distribution of content rated false or misleading.
| Aspect | Former US third-party fact-checking program | Community Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Who wrote the assessment? | Partner fact-checking organizations assessed claims and produced fact-checks, according to PolitiFact. | Eligible platform contributors write notes; other contributors rate them, according to Meta. |
| How does an assessment become visible? | Meta could add a warning label linking to a fact-check and reduce the distribution of content rated false or misleading, according to PolitiFact. | Meta’s launch description said notes needed agreement among contributors with differing viewpoints; notes appeared gradually during testing. |
| What can be assessed? | The former program focused on claims that fact-checkers could assess. PolitiFact describes partner organizations as assessing claims. | Meta described notes as a way to add context to content; its current page lists ads, Reels, Stories, and limited-audience posts among exclusions. |
| Geographic scope covered here | The January 2025 change concerned Meta’s US program; it should not be read as a worldwide end to fact-checking. | Meta’s current contributor requirements specify US-based contributors. The company may show notes on content viewable in the US, including content posted from elsewhere. |
| Who controlled enforcement? | Meta controlled its rules and enforcement; fact-checkers did not remove posts, PolitiFact reported. | Meta says contributors determine whether a note is useful, but the platform continues to enforce Community Standards on notes and contributors. |
The mechanisms are different, but that alone does not establish which approach is more accurate, faster, broader, or effective. Those questions depend on how many contributors participate, what content receives coverage, how quickly notes appear, and what happens when a note is wrong or disputed.
Did Meta loosen its content moderation rules as well?
Yes. Meta announced moderation changes alongside the US fact-checking transition. It said it would lift restrictions on some topics it considered part of mainstream political discourse, specifically naming immigration, gender identity, and gender. The announcement also described a shift in enforcement priorities: proactively addressing illegal and high-severity violations, while relying more on user reports before acting on less severe policy violations. Meta said the policy changes could take a few weeks to implement.
Meta also said it would personalize political-content recommendations so that people who wanted to see more political content could receive more of it. This was a recommendation change, not a statement that political content would be shown to everyone in the same way.
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Ending third-party fact-checking did not mean Meta stopped removing content or enforcing its policies. Meta’s announcement described changes to what it restricts and how it prioritizes enforcement, while its current Community Notes information says Community Standards still apply to notes and contributors.
Did Meta end fact-checking worldwide?
No. The announced end and April 7, 2025 implementation concerned the United States. The Oversight Board’s March 2026 opinion discusses Meta’s planned expansion of Community Notes outside the US, rather than establishing that an international rollout had been completed. Meta’s current contributor information still specifies US-based eligibility.
The Oversight Board said available data from the US beta were limited and described the program as early-stage. Its opinion considers risks and conditions relevant to possible country-by-country expansion; it is not an independent effectiveness evaluation of the US program. The Board recommends attention to contributor safety and privacy, civil society capacity, election risks, and coordinated disinformation networks, alongside testing and continued data collection.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is known about whether Community Notes works?
The sources available for this article do not establish a directly comparable, independent success or failure rate for Meta’s US Community Notes rollout. The Oversight Board said it had limited US beta data and did not conduct a general evaluation of the program’s effectiveness. It also raised concerns that delays in publishing notes, the limited number of notes published, and dependence on the surrounding information environment could constrain the feature’s ability to address misinformation linked to harm. Those are the Board’s concerns, not a measured comparison with the former system.
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A 2025 preprint about Community Notes on X—not Meta—reported that notes about posts tied to broader misinformation narratives were twice as likely to cite fact-checking sources as other notes. Its authors also reported that their analysis found citations to fact-checking sources up to five times more often than previously reported. Those findings concern X’s system and cannot be used to show how Meta’s implementation performs.
Meta’s decision was also disputed. Meta said the former approach overreached and that many US users perceived it as politically biased. The Oversight Board noted that many users perceived the old approach as politically biased, while saying it wanted to understand the replacement in more detail. Neither Meta’s assertions nor the Board’s statement, on its own, proves that the former program was biased or that the replacement resolves that concern. PolitiFact, meanwhile, quoted Poynter Institute president Neil Brown arguing that fact-checkers did not censor posts and that Meta retained control of enforcement.
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