Meta will discontinue its fact-checking partnerships and introduce user-generated “community notes” for content moderation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, aligning with similar changes made by Elon Musk's X.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the shift as a tradeoff, admitting it may increase harmful content but reduce censorship complaints. The policy change reflects Meta's ideological shift amid efforts to improve relations with President-elect Donald Trump and his administration.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on this matter. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact the GW Media Relations team at [email protected].
Misinformation Experts
Neil Johnson, professor of physics, leads a new initiative in Complexity and Data Science which combines cross-disciplinary fundamental research with data science to attack complex real-world problems. He is an expert on how misinformation and hate speech spreads online and effective mitigation strategies. Johnson published new research this week that finds major events like presidential elections not only incites new hate content in online communities but also brings those communities closer together around online hate speech.
Ethan Porter is an associate professor of media and public affairs and of political science at GW. He holds appointments in the School of Media and Public Affairs and the Political Science Department and is the Cluster Lead of the Misinformation/Disinformation Lab at GW's Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Political Communication and other journals.
David Broniatowski, an associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering, is GW’s lead principal investigator of a newly launched, NSF-funded institute called TRAILS that explores trustworthy AI. He conducts research in decision making under uncertainty, collective decision making, the design and regulation of complex information flow systems, and how behavior spreads online. Broniatowski can discuss a number of topics related to the spread of misinformation and efforts to combat misinformation online, including the challenges of tackling misinformation and how messages spread. He also published research on how Facebook’s design makes it unable to control misinformation.
Matthew Hindman is Professor of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University. His work focuses on political communication, digital audiences and online disinformation. Dr. Hindman's most recent book, The Internet Trap: How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy, was published by Princeton University Press in September 2018. It argues that the internet has not lowered the cost of reaching audiences — it has merely shifted who pays and how. Other parts of Dr. Hindman's research focus on machine learning and the spread of digital disinformation. His first book, The Myth of Digital Democracy (Princeton University Press), won Harvard's Goldsmith Book Prize, the Donald McGannon Award, and the Doris Graber Outstanding Book Award.
Political Implications
Casey Burgat is the director of the Legislative Affairs program at the Graduate School of Political Management and host of its Mastering the Room podcast. Prior to joining GSPM, Burgat was a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute where his research focused on issues of congressional capacity and reform.
Peter Loge, director of the GW School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and communications, including a presidential appointment at the Food and Drug Administration and senior positions for Sen. Edward Kennedy and three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently leads the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at SMPA and continues to advise advocates and organizations.
Todd Belt is the director of the Political Management Program at the GW Graduate School of Political Management. Belt is an expert on the presidency, campaigns and elections, mass media and politics, public opinion, and political humor. In addition to his expertise, Belt is co-author of four books and helps to run GW’s political poll, which recently shared new findings.
Law
William Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, Professor of Law, and Director of the Competition Law Center at the George Washington University Law. Kovacic is an expert in antitrust law, contracts, and government contracts. In addition to his expertise, Kovacic was a member of the FTC for over a decade and chaired the commission from March 2008-March 2009.
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