It’s a big week for brand safety on social media. In the UK, the long-awaited legal enforcement of digital safety laws that form part of the Online Safety Act comes into force today. It means that social platforms will be legally compelled to “implement safeguards that take action against illegal harms” in the UK, or face stiff fines of £18m or 10% of global revenue. Meanwhile, in the US, Meta begins testing its new safety feature Community Notes from 18 March. 

We’ve covered the UK Online Safety Act already, both on this blog and in the press, but the new release and global impact of Meta’s Community Notes program is significant as it is a big change – and could easily mean the company’s social networks fall foul of new UK laws.

Let’s take a deep dive into how the new Community Notes system will work, and the potential impact on brands. 

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Fact or fiction?

Meta announced in January that it would be replacing fact-checkers on Facebook, Instagram and Threads with a Community Notes program. It raised fears that without fact-checkers Meta could descend into a Twitter/X-style toxic soup. Now that it’s happening, what could the new era of self-checked social media look like? And how will Meta’s Community Notes work for brands?

Community Notes launches tomorrow as a US-only test. Content originating in the US will be eligible to receive Notes, and US accounts will be the only users who can add Notes. The well-established Meta fact-checking program consists of approximately 200 global organisations, such as charities and media outlets, whose job is to review misleading – but not illegal – content on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. 

Fact-checkers label posts with corrections where needed to better inform readers and viewers of the content in question. The fact-checker program continues to operate outside the US for now, but Meta will presumably be looking to make similar cuts elsewhere if the pilot works well. 

Community Notes will put the onus on social media users to spot and add notes to what they feel is misleading content. Any user can join the Community Notes program so long as they meet some criteria: the user must be 18 or over and have an account at least six months old that hasn’t made any major violations. 

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How will it work?

For a Facebook, Instagram or Threads post to receive a Community Note that is visible to all, it will need to have received a number of notes from users “with a broad range of viewpoints”. The exact details of how many viewpoints and how broad a range of them will be needed will be decided by an algorithm, which in this case was in fact first developed by Twitter/X. 

How quickly a misleading post will be labelled with a Community Note will depend on this algorithm and, according to studies, misinformation can go unchecked for extended periods of time – especially if posts do not receive a consensus of community notes.

This could mean you will need to keep an ever closer eye on your communities – especially if you have ever experienced misleading information in your social media community, and if you actively manage communities where misinformation can spread at speed. 

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What does this mean for brands? 

• Consider a refresh of your community management approach across Instagram, Facebook and Threads, particularly if your brand gets mentions online that could be misleading, or comments along the same lines. 
• Review your social listening setup to ensure any questionable content is detected and addressed at speed.  
• Look at your brand advocates and influencers, and see if any of them are actively creating Community Notes. You might also want to consider finding some and bringing them closer to your brand, to help protect it in the future. 

If you meet the eligibility criteria for participating in Community Notes yourself, try it out, as it might give you further ideas for how to best navigate Meta’s latest platform changes. 
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‍If you’re interested in learning more, or want to know how we can help with your social media strategy and community management, drop us an email: hello@battenhall.com.