Meta excludes paid ads from Community Notes.
Express what you wish, as long as you are willing to pay for it.
Meta has decided to modify its content moderation approach by opting for a Community Notes system that will not apply to paid advertisements. This change was revealed by Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in early January when he announced the elimination of fact-checkers. According to anonymous sources, the Community Notes, which aim to ensure the truthfulness and accuracy of postings, will only apply to organic content, leaving paid advertisements exempt from these notes.
Meta's choice to abandon fact-checkers in favor of Community Notes has sparked criticism. Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press and director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights, emphasized that content moderation should not be seen as a restriction on free speech but as a means to foster dialogue and protect accuracy on the platforms. Benavidez argued that Zuckerberg's change aligns more with a desire to shed responsibility for protecting users while simultaneously aligning with new leadership that opposes accountability.
By making paid advertisements free from Community Notes scrutiny, Meta appears to prioritize economic benefits over user protection. This shift contrasts with the experience of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which saw a significant drop in advertising revenue when it implemented a similar feature allowing the community to leave notes on paid ads.
Moreover, these decisions by Meta, which include lifting bans on certain hate speech and canceling diversity and inclusion initiatives, seem to have been made swiftly to appease the demands of the Trump administration. The repercussions of these changes will begin to be observed as they are implemented across the company's various platforms.
