Meta is piloting a change to its Community Notes program by allowing all users who see a note to weigh in on whether it’s helpful. Previously, only approved contributors could rate, but this test opens up ratings to the wider audience.
Under the test, people scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or Threads can click to indicate if a Community Note under a post added value or clarity. This move aims to gather more feedback and improve which notes get surfaced, since more input could help the system better distinguish helpful context from less useful commentary.
Community Notes themselves are contributions made by people who apply to join the contributor pool. Users write notes to add context or correct misleading claims in posts, and notes only become visible publicly once they pass a review process requiring agreement from writers with different viewpoints. With the new rating test, it’s hoped that outside feedback will speed up or better refine that process.
This experiment is part of broader tweaks being made to Community Notes. Meta is also testing ways to notify users when posts they’ve interacted with later get a note, and giving people the option to request a note on a post they believe needs context. The aim is to make fact-checking more transparent and reactive.
It’s still early days. The ratings test is limited, rollout not universal, and how much it improves the quality or speed of corrections remains to be seen. Critics warn that giving more people the ability to rate could lead to biased or superficial feedback, especially on posts with strong opinions or partisan content. But for now, Meta is riding the line between opening up moderation input and maintaining control over misinformation.
