Last week, Meta decided to replace its professional fact-checking program with X-style Community Notes, and it looks like a version of this feature is already being tested on Threads. Alessandro Paluzzi, a developer who frequently leaks information about Meta apps, shared three screenshots that show what Community Notes will look like on Threads.
In the screenshots, Paluzzi shows a new “Write a Community Note” option in the menu that can be accessed in the corner of a Threads post. If you choose this option, you can submit your note anonymously, and if it’s judged useful, it will appear below the post. This whole process is not unlike how X uses Community Notes, which started as a feature called “Birdwatch” on Twitter before Elon Musk acquired and renamed the company.
Community Notes is just one of the ways that Threads is changing to accommodate Meta’s new approach to moderation. The app, which opposed the distribution and promotion of “political” content, will now also offer political posts. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram and Threads, demonstrated how you can adjust the amount of political content you see in your feed in a short video posted on Threads today. Meta offers users three options to choose from: “See Less,” which tries to weed out political content, “Standard,” which offers some political content, and “See More,” which treats political content like everything else in the app.
It’s unclear whether community notes or toggles for political content solve the real problems users have with Threads, or whether they will make anyone happier. However, they do fit into the image of a “free speech warrior” that Meta is trying to project.
