The dynamics that polarise us on social media are about to get worse

Those who express extreme negative views gain status within their groups, attracting more followers and amplifying their influence

A series of posts by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the Threads social media app, outlining his changes to content moderation. Photo: Yui Mok/PA

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 factcheckers, Meta will now emulate Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) in using “community notes”. 

These crowdsourced 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.