On January 7th, 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stunned the media, the public, and political world by announcing in a Facebook video an end to Meta’s longstanding fact-checking Meta for Media program. Instead, Meta will be implementing “community notes,” a system based on Elon Musk’s user-driven moderation strategy on X (formerly Twitter). Zuckerberg stated in the video, “It’s time to get back to our roots around free expression. We’re replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies…”
Community Notes is a feature on X (formerly Twitter) that allows contributors to add context – such as fact-checks – to posts, images, or videos. This community-driven content moderation program is a crowd-sourced system moderated by a bridging-based algorithm. Click on this Notes link to see how notes are attached. According to X’s website, the purpose of its so-called bridging-based algorithm is to “identify notes that are helpful to a broad audience across perspectives.”
Beliefs vs Knowledge
As the author wrote before in The Moloch Trap: OpenAI’s Evolution and the Paradox of Progress “…the modern world seems to echo the tempest of Milton’s Paradise Lost, where the eternal struggle over knowledge, power, and ambition unfolds with unrelenting force.”
From the vantage point of classical philosophy, if Plato were to observe the dissolution of these fact-checking systems by Zuckerberg and Musk, he would likely respond with profound dismay. Plato examined the fundamental difference between knowledge and belief. He first articulated this distinction in his dialogue Gorgias (454D), where he pointed out a crucial insight: while beliefs can be either true or false, knowledge can only be true. Plato contrasted rhetoric, which was practiced by Gorgias and his followers to gain influence by persuading others to adopt certain beliefs, and techne or episteme (systematic knowledge or science), which mathematicians and philosophers used in their pursuit of genuine truth – both about the natural world and about ethics.
Socrates
Plato: Gorgias (454D)
Then do you think that having learnt and having believed, or learning and belief, are the same thing, or different?
Gorgias
In my opinion, Socrates, they are different.
Socrates
And your opinion is right, as you can prove in this way: if some one asked you—Is there, Gorgias, a false and a true belief?—you would say, Yes, I imagine.
Gorgias
I should.
Socrates
But now, is there a false and a true knowledge?
Gorgias
Surely not.
Socrates
So it is evident again that they are not the same.
Gorgias
You are right.
Plato on Truth and Society
In his seminal work, The Republic, Plato emphasized the pursuit of truth (aletheia) as a cornerstone of a well-ordered society, warning against the sophists who deliberately misled the public for personal gain. Extrapolating his views into the modern digital age, Plato’s concerns might revolve around one of his central concerns, the pursuit of truth and the role of knowledge in achieving a just society. He emphasized the importance of educating citizens to discern between fact and opinion, which is crucial for the well-being of the state.
Truth, Justice, and Responsibility
The author believes that Plato would advocate for a system that not only checks facts but also educates users on how to critically evaluate the information they encounter. He would likely view Zuckerberg’s decision as a failure to uphold the ethical duty of guiding citizens toward enlightenment and understanding. In summary, Plato’s concerns regarding the abandonment of fact-checking by Zuckerberg would center on the implications for truth, justice, and the ethical responsibility of those who control information. Would Plato argue that a society that neglects the pursuit of truth risks descending into chaos and injustice?
Digital Shadows and the Allegory of the Cave
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave remains one of his most evocative critiques of ignorance. Prisoners see only the shadows of objects on a cave wall, mistaking these shadows for reality. By extension, social media can function like that cave wall, projecting fleeting images and soundbites that people often take at face value. When fact-checking mechanisms are sidelined, users may further rely on unvetted echoes within their community – a modern-day cave in which half-truths and rumors multiply.
An “AI social echo chamber” refers to the deliberate design of artificial intelligence algorithms on social media platforms that personalize user content based on their preferences and online behavior. These algorithms strategically curate and prioritize information that aligns with a user’s existing beliefs and interests to maximize engagement and platform retention. As a result, users are consistently exposed to similar viewpoints while opposing perspectives are minimized or excluded. This intentional content filtering reinforces personal biases, deepens ideological divisions, and accelerates the spread of misinformation by limiting exposure to diverse and challenging ideas.
If the readers want to experience a rumor musically, listen to Mozart’s Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) aria “La calunnia è un venticello” (which translates to “Slander is a little breeze”) sung by the character Basilio, where he spreads rumors about Count Almaviva. On a more serious note, critics fear that “community notes” might become an echo chamber, rather than a true means of sorting fact from fiction. If the majority of contributors share a certain political slant, the “notes” themselves could end up reflecting popular misconceptions instead of highlighting inaccuracies.
Ethical Responsibility by Technological Guardians
Plato’s ethical framework highlights the obligations of those in positions of influence. In The Republic, the notion of the “guardian class” extends beyond ruling to protecting the moral and intellectual welfare of the citizenry. In modern contexts, tech executives and media magnates arguably inherit this mantle of guardianship, given their capacity to shape and filter the information environment. Although user-based “community notes” might sound democratic, the author suspects that Plato would take issue with such a laissez-faire approach. Truth, in his understanding, requires cultivation, protection, and the deliberate effort of those with the power to nurture it.
Conclusion
Were Plato with us today, he would likely caution that the technologies enabling us to share information so swiftly also demand a heightened sense of ethical accountability. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X can either serve as conduits of genuine knowledge or hotbeds of sophistry; the difference lies largely in the resolve of their leaders to prioritize truth over convenience and profit. The philosopher-king model (the ideal leader in Plato’s Republic unites deep philosophical wisdom with practical political expertise – a rare individual who can both grasp universal truths and effectively govern) may not literally apply, but the underlying principle remains potent: those entrusted with oversight must protect and advance the truth, lest the citizenry remain enchained, mistaking flickering shadows of their digital cave for the real world.
The author leaves the last words to Plato:
“And each form of government enacts the laws with a view to its own advantage, a democracy democratic laws and tyranny autocratic and the others likewise, and by so legislating they proclaim that the just for their subjects is that which is for their—the rulers’—advantage and the man who deviates from this law they chastise as a law-breaker and a wrongdoer. This, then, my good sir, is what I understand as the identical principle of justice that obtains in all states.
Plat. Rep. 1.338e
Appendix: An Sample of Fact Checkers from Meta‘s Partner Map:
- Albania (Albanian) Faktoje.al
- Algeria (Arabic) AFP, Fatabyyano فتبين
- Argentina (Spanish) AFP – Hub, Chequeado
- Australia (English) AFP – Hub, The Australian Associated Press, RMIT FactLab
- Austria (German, Dutch, French) AFP, dpa-Faktencheck
- Azerbaijan (Turkish, Azeri), Teyit
- Bahrain (Arabic), AFP – Coverage, Fatabyyano فتبين
- Bangladesh (Bengali, English) Boom, AFP APAC, Fact Watch
- Belarus (Russian) Delfi, Demagog Poland, Fact Check Georgia, Myth Detector, Re:Baltica, Patikrinta 15min
- Belgium (Dutch, French, German), AFP – Hub, dpa-Faktencheck, Knack
- Benin (French, Yoruba) Africa Check
- Bolivia (Spanish) AFP – Coverage
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrian) Raskrinkavanje
- Brazil (Portuguese) AFP – Hub, Agência Lupa, Aos Fatos, Estadão Verifica, Reuters
This article was written by Dr. Jasmin (Bey) Cowin, Associate Professor and U.S. Department of State English Language Specialist (2024). As a columnist for Stankevicius, she writes on Nicomachean Ethics: Insights at the Intersection of AI and Education. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
