In January, Meta announced that it was ending its longstanding fact-checking programme, a system created to limit the spread of misinformation across its social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.
Instead, the social media powerhouse is implementing a Community Notes program, similar to the one currently running on X (formerly Twitter), where the community, rather than experts, decides whether a post is accurate.
While Meta hasn’t shared any immediate plans to eliminate its third-party fact-checkers outside the U.S., the announcement raises questions about the future of brand safety on the walled gardens.
More misinformation, less brand safety
Since X transitioned from using third-party fact-checkers to the Community Notes system in 2021, its brand trust has declined drastically. Overall trust dropped from 22 per cent in 2022 to just 12 per cent of marketers finding the platform trustworthy in 2024. The same Kantar study found that only 4 per cent of marketers believe X ads provide brand safety, and 26 per cent of marketers globally plan to decrease their spending on X in 2025.
The tech giants’ decisions to abandon fact-checking from their platforms are a dangerous step backward in the fight against online misinformation, threatening the integrity of information and posing a significant risk to brand trust and consumer perception. The reduced oversight significantly increases the likelihood of ads appearing alongside misinformation, which risks harming a company’s reputation.
Safeguarding ads with contextual AI and premium inventory
The abandonment of fact-checking highlights the contrast between premium journalism and social media. While premium news media has always been more brand-safe, the gap between the two ad-supported platforms has never been more evident.
With professional editorial standards, fact-checking processes, and controlled ad placements, premium journalism reduces the risk of misinformation and harmful content adjacency. Further, advertising on the open web supports a free press and quality journalism, which are essential for an informed society.
Taking it a step further – partnering with a third-party technology provider that leverages contextual AI on the open web – capable of understanding relationships between all articles in a network – can ensure your ads are placed in brand-safe environments while aligning with consumers’ current interests.
Advanced contextual AI reduces reliance on traditional keyword blocklists – which can limit reach – and instead uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyse an article’s full context, including text, images, and sentiment. Some solutions also consider external contextual cues, such as weather, device type, geolocation, and time of day, while remaining privacy-compliant. This allows it to distinguish between an article about someone “crashing a party” and one about an accident, such as “crashing a car” – enabling greater reach without compromising safety.
Amid today’s post-truth media landscape, brands aiming to maintain credibility and foster trust with their audience are likely to gravitate towards partnerships with reputable news publishers. And leverage tools such as advanced contextual AI to ensure brand messages are delivered in a contextually relevant and suitable environment. By supporting quality journalism, they not only protect their own brand integrity but also contribute to an informed society.
By Sherry Mansour, Managing Director at Seedtag MENA
