The decision of the multinational Meta to end the data verification program in the United States will damage the quality of information and opens the door to “generalized misinformation” and “hate speech,” as the Federation denounced this Thursday in a statement. International of Journalists (FIP).
Furthermore, the organization criticizes that the fact that “such an important platform” has made a decision that “deprioritizes the truth” also “increases pressure on an already beleaguered media” and “could further erode public trust.” on social networks and the media.
In fact, the FIP adds that the “first change” will be “the end of the relationship between Meta and several data verification organizations”, whose contracts reach a value of more than 100 million dollars, according to the association.
“Established news channels must bear the cost of reporting verified news while platforms that have stripped them of attention and revenue can peddle untethered froth designed to titillate rather than inform,” the organization warns.
This emphasizes, in the opinion of the IFJ, the “narrow-mindedness” on the part of the world’s governments that “fail to find forms of support for the media.”
More context: Meta abandons its third-party data verification system in the US and opts for the X model
For the organization’s secretary general, Anthony Bellanger, Meta’s announcement “is based on the idea that freedom of expression can be detached from the responsibility to be truthful and is a serious blow to the global information ecosystem.”
“However imperfect fact-checking may be, it is based on the principle that there are facts that can be verified. “This is the ideal that (Mark) Zuckerberg threatens,” he added.
For now, Meta has expressed its intention to end the fact-checking system and replace it with a community notes mechanism in the United States.
If it also wanted to do so in the European Union, the platform would have to send a risk assessment to the European Commission so that the community institution can assess whether or not it complies with community legislation on digital services.
Specifically, Brussels considers accredited verifiers “an effective way to mitigate systemic risks” but is open to accepting other options as long as they are equally effective.
Community sources indicated that Meta has already sent Brussels an impact assessment on what the measure would be like if it were adopted in the EU, a document that the European Commission is already analyzing without a specific timetable to rule on whether it complies with European standards.
With information from EFE
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