Social media will get more polarised

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced big changes in how the company addresses misinformation across Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

- COLIN M FISHER

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced big changes in how the company addresses misinformation across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Instead of relying on independent third-party fact-checkers, Meta will now emulate Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) in using "community notes". These crowd-sourced contributions allow users to flag content they believe is questionable.

Zuckerberg claimed these changes promote "free expression". But some experts worry he's bowing to right-wing political pressure, and will effectively allow a deluge of hate speech and lies to spread on Meta platforms. Research on the group dynamics of social media suggests those experts have a point. At first glance, community notes might seem democratic, reflecting values of free speech and collective decisions. Crowd-sourced systems such as Wikipedia, Metaculus and PredictIt, though imperfect, often succeed at harnessing the wisdom of crowds — where the collective judgment of many can sometimes outperform even experts.

Research shows that diverse groups that pool independent judgments and estimates can be surprisingly effective at discerning the truth. However, wise crowds seldom have to contend with social media algorithms.

Many people rely on platforms such as Facebook for their news, risking exposure to misinformation and biased sources. Relying on social media users to police information accuracy could further polarize platforms and amplify extreme voices. Two group-based tendencies — our psychological need to sort ourselves and others into groups — are of particular concern: in-group/out-group bias and acrophily (love of extremes). Humans are biased in how they evaluate information.