From June 16 to October 31, 2021, we ran an experiment to document the impacts of closing Facebook comments on our news posts, in order to make an informed decision about how best to serve our audience and our mandate. Based on the results of that experiment, CBC will continue to keep comments closed on posts of news content on its CBC-branded Facebook pages. Canadians can still engage with CBC content via the comment sections on CBC.ca.
What did we discover?
We were able to draw the following conclusions from this test:
- We could more widely share stories on diverse subject matter without the harm that comes with abusive comments and misinformation shared by commenters.
- Significant time and effort was saved in attempting to monitor comments sections with few external controls.
- Canadians continued to access our content on Facebook.
- Staff well-being improved during the pilot period, according to an internal survey.
- Canadians continued to effectively engage with CBC using our other commenting options, including CBC.ca.
For more information, please review this post on the CBC Editor's blog.
Creating better, engaging conversation spaces
We encourage you to join the conversation over on CBC.ca where you can share your feedback and comments as a CBC Member on CBC News and other stories.
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It’s free and easy to join the conversation. Create your account to enable commenting and also access our great online and streaming content on CBC Gem and CBC Listen.