Meta has announced that it is now accepting registrations for its Community Notes initiative, which will be available on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This announcement comes after Meta recently revealed that it will be discontinuing its third-party fact-checking program in favor of a Community Notes model, similar to the one used by X.

According to Meta’s blog post, the Community Notes feature will enable users across its platforms to identify and flag misleading posts, and provide additional context to these posts.

As of today, users can sign up to be among the first to contribute to the program. To be eligible, users must be at least 18 years old, based in the United States, and have an account that is over six months old and in good standing, as well as a verified phone number or be enrolled in two-factor authentication.

Contributors to the program will be able to create and submit Community Notes for posts they believe are misleading or confusing. Similar to X, these Notes can include background information, tips, or other relevant details that users may find helpful.

Community Notes will be limited to 500 characters and must include a link to be published.

In order for a Community Note to be published, users with differing opinions, based on their past ratings, must agree that the Note is helpful. If there is no agreement or if users agree that a Note is not helpful, it will not be added to the content.

Meta emphasizes that Community Notes will be written and rated by contributors, not by the company itself. All Notes must comply with Meta’s Community Standards.

The company aims to be transparent about how different viewpoints influence the Notes displayed in its apps and is working on a way to share this information.

Meta plans to introduce Community Notes in the United States over the next few months, but has not announced when it will be available in other countries.

The decision to replace fact-checking with Community Notes has been seen as Meta’s attempt to reposition itself in favor of unrestricted online speech, particularly in light of the upcoming Trump presidency. When Meta announced this change, Mark Zuckerberg stated in a video that fact-checkers were “too politically biased” and had destroyed “more trust than they’ve created”.