Column by Geoffrey A. Fowler

When a hoax about Donald Trump went viral at the funeral of Pope Francis, I went on social media to try to set the record straight. I’m a volunteer for community notes, a program Mark Zuckerberg announced in January that replaces fact-checkers with users to counter falsehoods on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

I drafted a note debunking images claiming to show Trump sleeping during the ceremony. I cited live-stream footage and corroborating time stamps. I linked to research by Snopes.

None of that mattered. My community note never got added to a post because not enough other users voted it was “helpful.”

Over four months, I’ve drafted 65 notes debunking conspiracy theories on topics ranging from airplane crashes to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I’ve tried to fl

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