Meta winds down fact-checking as it expands bonuses for viral content

A new investigative report says Meta is simultaneously dialing back the automated systems that limit the spread of false information and revamping a program that pays creators bonuses based on views and engagement. The Facebook Content Monetization program remains invite-only for now, but Meta intends to open it widely this year, a combination critics say could pour accelerant on the false posts the company once policed.

With AI-generated text, images, and video flooding feeds and becoming harder to spot, media professionals are urging users to do their own fact-checking and be careful about what they believe, click, and engage with.

In creator tooling, two AI products are drawing daily use among marketers. Fathom, an AI notetaker that works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, produces instant recordings, transcripts, summaries, and action items; it offers a free plan and a $15-per-month tier, and says its AI is never trained on user data and recordings stay private unless shared. Descript's Underlord feature generates an instant transcript of uploaded video and can pull out segments suited for 60-second vertical clips, which creators then edit with captions and overlays.

Social Media Marketing World 2025 runs March 30 through April 1 in San Diego with a virtual ticket option, followed by a half-day Facebook business briefing on April 2.

Facebook users are also being reminded that the platform now deletes live video recordings after 30 days on pages, profiles, and groups, with a 90-day window from notification to bulk download or transfer older recordings before automatic deletion.