From Fact-Checking to Community Notes: Meta's Shift

This capstone examines Meta's 2025 decision to eliminate third-party fact-checking in the United States and transition to a crowdsourced Community Notes model as a strategic communication case study. The project analyzes how Meta communicated a highly controversial policy change by evaluating its messaging, communication strategy, stakeholder responses, and measurable outcomes. Through the lens of trust, platform governance, brand safety, and public perception, the study explores how organizations communicate major policy decisions while balancing competing stakeholder expectations in an increasingly polarized digital environment.

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Publication Details

Journal
UNC Libraries
Published
2026-07-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17615/s2tn-p564
Primary Topic
Public Relations and Crisis Communication
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

From Fact-Checking to Community Notes: Meta's Shift

Maximus Carlton
UNC Libraries
Public Relations and Crisis Communication
article

From Fact-Checking to Community Notes: Meta's Shift

Maximus Carlton
article en

Abstract

This capstone examines Meta's 2025 decision to eliminate third-party fact-checking in the United States and transition to a crowdsourced Community Notes model as a strategic communication case study. The project analyzes how Meta communicated a highly controversial policy change by evaluating its messaging, communication strategy, stakeholder responses, and measurable outcomes. Through the lens of trust, platform governance, brand safety, and public perception, the study explores how organizations communicate major policy decisions while balancing competing stakeholder expectations in an increasingly polarized digital environment.

UNC Libraries
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Public Relations and Crisis Communication
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