Instagram is tipped to be working on implementing Community Notes on its platform. As per a tipster, the Meta-owned platform is adding a new option to write a community note to the published posts. The leaked information comes weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced shutting down of the existing fact-checking programme, citing censorship mistakes and rigid content policy. While the parent company has revealed that Community Notes will be implemented on all of its social media platforms, it has not yet announced any release date.
According to a Threads post by developer Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a), the Community Notes feature for Instagram is currently under development and is not available to any user. The feature is reportedly at an advanced stage on Threads, where Community Notes is said to be already in the testing phase. Notably, Zuckerberg highlighted that the feature will be implemented in the US first, followed by the rest of the regions.
In a screenshot shared by the tipster, the feature could be accessed by tapping on the three vertical dots next to every post on Instagram. The option was labelled as “Write community note” and placed above the Report icon. Currently, it is not known how users will be selected for Community Notes, and how written notes will be rated.
Meta stated that Community Notes will allow people from diverse perspectives to give opinions on misleading content and provide additional context. Eligible users can write background information or provide opinion-based insights, and if the community finds it useful, it will be published under the post.
Zuckerberg explained the decision to ditch the fact-checking programme in a series of posts on Thread. He said, “It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression and giving people voice on our platforms.” He also added that the content policies will be simplified and restrictions on topics such as immigration, gender, and others that “are out of touch with mainstream discourse” will be removed.
Community Notes feature was first introduced by X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2021, but it was expanded and popularised after Elon Musk took over the company. Several netizens have criticised the feature as it takes the power away from independent organisations looking at the objective truth and instead puts it in the hands of a small group that is selected arbitrarily.
