New moderation on Facebook: “It will be the brutalization of exchanges, relationships and content on the platform”

Tristan Mendès France est chercheur spécialisé dans les cultures numériques. DR.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on January 7, 2025 that he would change the platform's moderation system to make way for “community notes” in the United States. While the social network, along with Whatsapp and Instagram, pays more than 80 media outlets to verify information, it will now be up to users to carry out these fact-checks. An expert in digital cultures, Tristan Mendès France explains this 180-degree turn.

What does this new moderation consist of ?

The collaboration with fact-checkers, the media, etc. will end. Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would introduce “community notes” instead. It is the users who will be able to correct or put into perspective the contents that scroll on Facebook and Instagram through notes under the publications. Presumably, it is an import of what is in place on X.

How do “community notes” work? ?

The user must first agree to participate in this community project. Then, he must vote for notes suggested by other members under publications. Once he has made a certain number of votes, he will be able to propose community notes himself.

So anyone can write notes to correct publications ?

Yes, community notes are made by ordinary users. The positive aspect is that there are a lot of them. This allows us to cover a significant volume of disinformation content, much larger than just specific moderation teams. But the big problem is that fact-checkers, moderators and the media… will no longer collaborate to write these notes. Unlike ordinary citizens, they have the means to investigate, to verify information… And all of this is expensive. The ideal would have been to combine the two: the expert work of professionals and the principle of community notes.

The notes in questions, what do they contain ?

You can challenge the content of a post on Facebook, but as on Wikipedia, you must justify your statement. Essentially, it is based on sharing a link. On X for example, community notes contain serious links most of the time: media, institutional sites, statistics… These are very rarely bad sources. Facebook's should adopt this model. Ultimately, it is the community that will feed off the journalistic work. This is a caricature, because Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to stop working with fact-checkers because they are politically biased, but ultimately the work of fact-checkers will be reinjected into Facebook via the links added in the community notes.

He has set limits on the moderation of certain content…

Yes, Mark Zuckerberg announced at the same time that he no longer wanted political bias in the media, and at the same time that he wanted to limit, or even cancel, moderation on topics related to immigration, the LGBT+ community or gender issues. Which is a politically biased announcement. It's funny to denounce political bias and reduce moderation on these two flagship topics of the far right in the same video.

What will be the consequence for Facebook users ?

It will be the brutalization of exchanges, relationships and content on the platform. There is a risk for discriminated communities, minorities who will be exposed to even more virulent, even violent content.

In the name of freedom of expression therefore ?

Moderation is a political issue. Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg… consider that freedom of expression is under siege. While objectively, there has rarely been as much freedom of expression as there is now on the internet. For me, their myth of martyred freedom of expression actually hides the freedom to brutalize public debate.

For the moment, this only concerns Facebook in the United States, could it happen in France? ?

In his announcement video, Mark Zuckerberg left little doubt that he was going to use the American administration to put pressure on the European Union. The administration could, for example, threaten reciprocity: that is, if the EU sanctioned Meta, the United States would sanction a European company. And then we must not forget that there is a populist dynamic in Europe: Italy or Hungary for example, will not be on the same philosophy of moderation.

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