Blerim Emruli

Disinformation is growing rapidly on social media, driven by evolving tactics. Meanwhile, the shift towards community-based fact-checking has raised concerns among fact-checking organizations. This study aims to explore fact-checkers’ perceptions of changes in social media governance models to counter disinformation. Based on qualitative interviews with European fact-checkers, the study reveals that, while community-based fact-checking is seen as a valuable complement to third-party models, it is not viewed as a standalone solution. Fact-checkers value concise labelling formats like contextual notes, but express concerns around transparency—especially from platforms—and growing distrust in their institutions. This paper contributes by (1) providing empirical insights into how European fact-checkers perceive the emergence of community-based fact-checking, (2) describing legitimacy and transparency challenges in an era of growing distrust of fact-checking, and (3) offering future directions for social media governance models. European fact-checkers call for an adaptive, multi-level governance to counter disinformation in the evolving landscape.