Meta has ended its third-party fact-checking program in the U.S. in favor of a Community Notes program. The company will focus its enforcement efforts on “illegal and high-severity violations.” The company will also “allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse.” This applies to political content “so that people who want to see more of it can see it in their feeds.”
Dave Fleet, global head of digital crisis for Edelman, noted that “The shift away from content moderation and the challenges with comprehensively monitoring brand-relevant conversations on today's top social media channels mean companies are more likely to face problematic claims that achieve significant momentum before the brand becomes aware.” He added, "This makes it all the more important for companies to get on the front foot to proactively address (pre-bunk) high-risk topics, and to plan and rehearse how they will fact check and address misinformation rapidly and effectively."
Historically, chief communications officers relied on a campaign-style, always-on approach to respond to media. However, the explosion of the information ecosystem demands a more agile, sophisticated strategy to counter disinformation from diverse sources. Beyond rapid crisis response, teams must now cultivate third-party advocates and engage with today’s influential voices to help protect and promote their brands and combat disinformation.
Brands and companies will need to identify, anticipate and respond at pace to false (but not harmful or illegal) content or narratives as this will no longer necessarily be moderated by Meta or on other platforms. There will need to be a deeper understanding of the community guidelines for each platform and how to report content that is in violation. The bar for triggering a response is lowered by the possibility of politicization and escalation. This is our time.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
