'It’s just going to be a nightmare': Experts react to Meta’s decision to end fact-checking

Meta’s plans to ditch fact-checking on Instagram and Facebook is stirring up quite the debate.

On Tuesday, Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg announced changes in content moderation on Facebook and Instagram, which includes parting ways with fact-checking.

Sonja Solomun, deputy director for the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, says the decision is discouraging.

"This is a disastrous decision that will have global-ranging implications on democracy,” says Solomun. "Areas like climate disinformation or health communications are going to be really affected.”

Meta’s implementation of fact-checking was initially introduced to combat misinformation online.

Instead, Zuckerberg says Meta will feature user-written "community notes.”

Giles Crouch, a digital anthropologist, says without that it creates leeway for further chaos.

"When you leave it up to people and you don’t manage and govern how that runs, it’s going to turn into chaos. It always has. There are no examples of it actually, fully working,” says Crouch.

“Placing the onus on users is just delegating responsibility away and this is a structural issue,” says Solomun. “It requires a systemic response.”

Zuckerberg says the move will first start in the United States.

Some Maritimers say they disagree with the decision, with one woman in Halifax saying she’s “concerned” that people won’t recognize misinformation and “believe what they see.”

Crouch says it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

“Especially as we come into an election cycle in Canada somewhere in the next several months, it’s just going to be a nightmare. And there’s no control in this situation,” Crouch says.