Threads is getting its own fact-checking program

This may come as a shock to you, but the things people post on social media aren’t always true – they really blew your mind there, didn’t they? Because of this, it can be challenging for people to know what is real without context or expertise in a particular field. This is part of the reason why many platforms use a fact-checking team to monitor (often more so it looks like they are monitoring) what is being shared. Now Threads is getting its own fact-checking program, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and de facto head of Threads, announced. He first shared the company’s plans to do so in December.

Mosseri said Threads “recently” made it so that third-party Meta fact-checkers can review and rate any inaccurate content on the platform. Before the switch, Meta ran fact checks on Facebook and Instagram and then matched “nearly identical fake content” that users shared in Threads. However, there is no indication of exactly when the program was launched or if it is global.

Then it’s a matter of seeing how effective it really can be. Facebook and Instagram already have these dedicated fact-checkers, but misinformation runs rampant across the platforms. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election — and with ongoing elections and conflicts happening around the world — is it too much to ask for some hard fact-checking from social media companies?