Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his social media company is ending its fact-checking program and replacing it with a community-driven system, similar to that of Elon Musk's X.

"It's time to get back to our roots around free expression. We're replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes. Looking forward to this next chapter," Zuckerberg said in a video message on Tuesday.

The new program will start in the US.

The Meta CEO cited the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election as the driving force for the decision, calling it a "cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech."

The changes will impact Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram which have billions of users, as well as Threads.

Meta introduced its fact-checking program in 2016 as part of an effort to curb misinformation.

The initiative was launched to counter criticism over Facebook's role in spreading false claims during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

A 2023 statement from Meta said the fact-checking program had "expanded to include nearly 100 organizations working in more than 60 languages globally."