Meta Platforms Inc. announced on Thursday that it will begin testing its new "Community Notes" feature on March 18. This initiative represents a departure from the company's previous reliance on third-party fact-checkers, moving towards a crowd-sourced approach for content moderation.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched the system in January, aligning the organization with political shifts in the U.S. following the election of former President Donald Trump.

This announcement comes amid criticisms from Trump supporters, who allege that conservative viewpoints are being suppressed under the guise of combating misinformation, a claim that has been challenged by professional fact-checkers.

In tandem, Meta has reportedly diminished its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation policies on its platforms, especially concerning certain types of hostile speech.

The existing fact-checking program, which partners with organizations like AFP in 26 languages, will remain in place until the new system is fully rolled out in other countries.

The Community Notes initiative enables users on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to add notes and contextual ratings to various content.

Roughly 200,000 users in the United States have already registered as potential contributors.

To be eligible, participants must be at least 18 years old, have accounts that are more than six months old, and be in good standing.

During the testing period, contributions will not appear immediately alongside posts.

Meta intends to gradually invite participants from a waitlist while thoroughly testing the system.

The company clarified that the visibility of notes will depend on contributors with differing perspectives reaching a consensus on their usefulness, stating, "This isn't majority rules." Additionally, unlike flagged content that undergoes fact-checking, posts related to Community Notes will not incur distribution penalties.

Contributors to Community Notes will be restricted to 500 characters and must include supporting links.

Initially, the feature will support six widely used languages in the United States: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Portuguese.

Meta has expressed its intention to eventually expand this approach globally, although the rollout will not happen immediately.

In the meantime, traditional third-party fact-checking measures will continue to be effective in other regions.

Furthermore, Meta plans to base its Community Notes system on an open-source algorithm adapted from X (formerly Twitter).

Concerns about the implications of this shift have been raised, including a warning from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who cautioned that such rollbacks in fact-checking and moderation practices could result in an increase in hate speech and violence online.