Meta watchdog says grassroots fact checks risk harm to users

Facebook parent Meta announced last year that it would end its use of external fact-checkers in the US. That scheme had employed third parties including AFP to expose misinformation. Instead, Meta said it would ask ordinary users to verify controversial claims in a system known as "community notes", aping methods on X and other social networks. If rolled out worldwide, that scheme "could... pose significant human rights risks and contribute to tangible harms," Meta's Oversight Board said in a Thursday advisory.