Technologies

Meta Gets Called Out by Its Own Oversight Board Over Expanding Community Notes

A look into the way Meta handles moderation suggests Community Notes aren’t an effective substitute for the third-party fact-checking program it disbanded last year.

Meta’s week of bad news continued when its own oversight board released an assessment of the company’s plans to continue avoiding third-party fact-checking on its platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and replace it with Community Notes in countries outside of the US. The assessment was not positive.

Community Notes launched in early 2025 to replace dedicated fact-checkers with a user-generated system. According to the report, Meta’s plans to expand its beta program would have negative effects on the countries affected, including volatile misinformation that could sway elections, exacerbate global conflicts and contribute to human rights violations.

The company requested that the oversight board review its plans to expand Community Notes outside the US and determine whether some countries should be excluded. The board’s assessment is that the Community Notes program falls short in helping remove misinformation from Meta’s platforms.

«Delays in note publication, the limited number of published notes and its dependence on the broader information environment’s reliability raise serious doubts about the extent to which Community Notes can meaningfully address misinformation linked to harm,» the report says.

The issues with Community Notes, the assessment says, could be particularly dangerous in countries with repressive regimes, where elections could be swayed by misinformation, where there are coordinated disinformation networks, where language complexities can’t be handled by Meta’s technology, where there are obstacles to internet access, and where major conflicts are happening or there’s a danger of political violence. Those are places where the board recommends Meta omit from or reconsider in its plans to use Community Notes rather than third-party fact-checking.

A representative for Meta pointed CNET to an online response from the company in which it says it will publicly respond to recommendations from the board within 60 days with an update to its post.

Meta’s big moderation change

Meta relied on third-party fact checkers for more than a decade before deciding to shift to Community Notes on platforms such as Facebook. The move was widely seen as political, to curry favor with the Trump administration.

As Neiman Labs reports and as pointed out in the oversight board report, Community Notes have inherent problems: There’s little incentive for community members to post them, they’re often delayed in publication and have not been thoroughly tested, as the program is still considered to be in beta.

There have also been far fewer Community Notes posted than there were actions taken from fact-checking programs. There have been about 900 notes posted in the US compared to 35 million labels applied on Facebook posts across the European Union since Community Notes rolled out.

In addition to the damning report from the oversight board, Meta this week also lost two lawsuits, one in New Mexico and one in California, over allegations that its platforms are addictive by design and cause harm to children.

In a recent report, the European Fact-Checking Standards Network described Meta’s move away from fact-checking as part of «The Great Retreat,» which it called «a trend where the world’s most powerful technology companies have backtracked on their previous commitments to combat disinformation.»

Technologies

Grab TCL’s Already-Affordable and Eye-Catching Phone for Even Less With a $70 Discount

This $70 Big Spring Sale discount drops the price to just $180, but there’s no telling how long the offer will last.

With a list price of $250, the TCL NxtPaper is an impressive budget phone that, in many ways, outperforms the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G at a similar price. It’s even better now that Amazon has dropped it by $70 during its Big Spring Sale, which brings the price of both black and white models to just $180.

There is no telling how long this deal will last, however, so be sure to get your order in sooner rather than later.

This phone hits top marks for everyday use. Its screen is large, the 120Hz refresh rate is buttery smooth, and the battery lasted CNET writer Tyler Graham throughout the entire day, even with frequent use. If you take a lot of selfies, you’ll enjoy a big 32-megapixel upgrade to the front-facing camera, though the camera system is otherwise similar to the TCL 50 series phones.

The shiny bonus features on the TCL NxtPaper 60 XE are the eponymous NxtPaper digital ink and e-reader modes and cloud-based TCL AI. You may not use these features often, but they are solid value adds to this budget phone. The 60 XE is working off a MediaTek Dimensity 6100 Plus processor with 8GB of memory.

«Compared to other phones in a similar price range, the TCL 60 XE NxtPaper 5G delivers where it counts for day-to-day use,» Graham wrote in his review, «and its impressive bells and whistles sweetened my experience with the phone.»

MOBILE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Get an iPhone 17 Pro Free With Trade-in and Qualifying Plan at T-Mobile
Google Pixel 10 Pro 128GB Unlocked Phone (Obsidian):

$749 (save $250)
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G 128GB Unlocked Phone (Awesome Black):

$298 (save $102)
Motorola Edge 256GB Unlocked Phone (2024 Model, Midnight Blue):

$241 (save $310)
Google Pixel 9 128GB Unlocked Phone (Obsidian):

$499 (save $300)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

The TCL NxtPaper 60 XE is one of the most unusual smartphones we have reviewed recently. It definitely is worth considering if you’re on the lookout for a new budget handset. It is already fairly inexpensive, but this Spring Sale deal makes it a no-brainer for those looking for something a little different. Just make sure you get your order in sooner rather than later, as this deal could end at any time.

Technologies

Anthropic’s Claude Can Now Take Over Your Computer to Do Tasks for You

The developer is boosting Claude’s agentic capabilities in an apparent effort to compete with platforms like OpenClaw.

You can now let Claude take control of your computer to perform tasks like sending you a file you left on your hard drive, the AI’s developer Anthropic announced Monday. For the feature to work, you just need to be on a qualifying subscription plan.

In the wake of the viral explosion of the open-source OpenClaw framework earlier this year, Anthropic is the latest developer to deliver a tool that enables an AI model to act more independently.

OpenClaw has spawned an entire ecosystem of «claws,» or AI tools that can take simple commands and perform them somewhat autonomously on your computer or with your tools or systems. Nvidia last week debuted NemoClaw, its framework for easily setting up and installing OpenClaw, with some security settings.

Anthropic says that Claude will look for the right tools to complete the task at hand via connectors with apps like Google Calendar or Slack. If the tool or connector isn’t available, Claude can manually perform the task by typing or moving the cursor, as if it were using the keyboard and mouse. It can use programs like your web browser, dev tools and open files.

When it’s performing these tasks, it can use a computer as you normally would — by scrolling and clicking around. The only difference is that Claude will always ask for permission beforehand. You can stop Claude from performing a task at any time.

Giving your chatbot the keys to your computer can be convenient for certain tasks, but it can leave your computer vulnerable to attacks. Experts told us one major worry with agentic AI is that it can take major, sometimes dramatic actions quickly and with little warning. Claws can also be hijacked by malicious actors, who can use your personal data and systems in ways you don’t want.

Anthropic says it implemented safeguards to minimize risks like prompt injections. The system will automatically scan for this and more vulnerabilities as they are implemented.

Despite some of its efforts to keep Claude’s computer use safe, Anthropic also provides a warning to users. The feature is new and may contain errors, and the company suggests not using apps that handle sensitive data — so much so that some of these apps are disabled by default.

The research preview is available now for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers and limited to computers running MacOS.

Anthropic says the new computer-use feature works well with Dispatch, which allows you to assign tasks to Claude using your phone. Such tasks include checking your email every morning or opening up a Claude Cowork or Claude Code session.

The combination of computer use for Claude and Dispatch enables you to do even more while you’re not even around. Anthropic says the feature combo can create a morning briefing or run tests, for example.

Given that both features are new, some complex tasks might not work the first time. Anthropic said it’s releasing this research preview to gain early insight on where it needs the most attention to become an even more powerful tool.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 28, #1743

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 28, No. 1,743.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a tricky one, with a double letter. Sherlock Holmes fans, you might get this one right away. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels, but one is the repeated letter, so you’ll see it twice.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with A.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is already underway or happening.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is AFOOT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 27, No. 1742, was IVORY.

Recent Wordle answers

March 23, No. 1738: SERIF

March 24, No. 1739: BROOD

March 25, No. 1740: WISER

March 26, No. 1741: BEFIT

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE