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By BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms Inc. said Thursday it will begin testing its crowd-sourced fact-checking program, Community Notes, on March 18. It will initially based on a ratings system used by Elon Musk’s X.

Meta ended its fact-checking program in January. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time that fact-checkers had become “politically biased,” using some of the language that conservatives have long used to criticize his platforms. But media experts and those who study social media were aghast at Meta’s policy shift.

The decision “not only removes a valuable resource for users, but it also provides an air of legitimacy to a popular disinformation narrative: That fact-checking is politically biased. Fact-checkers provide a valuable service by adding important context to the viral claims that mislead and misinform millions of users on Meta,” said Dan Evon, lead writer for RumorGuard, the News Literacy Project’s digital tool that curates fact checks and teaches people to spot viral misinformation. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged higher this week, ending a seven-week slide that helped ease borrowing costs for home shoppers leading into the spring homebuying season.

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale inflation decelerated last month, suggesting that price pressures are easing for now. But the progress may not last as President Trump intensifies his trade wars.

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned tariff on American whiskey.

The European tariff, which was unveiled in response to steel and aluminum tariffs by the U.S. administration, was expected to go into effect on April 1.

But Trump, in a morning social media post, vowed a new escalation in his trade war if the EU pushes ahead with the planned 50% tariff on American whiskey.

“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is falling Thursday, even after getting a double-shot of encouraging news on the economy. President Donald Trump keeps upping the stakes in his trade war, with his most recent threat to tax wines and other alcohol coming from Europe.

The S&P 500 was down 0.8% in morning trading, coming off a dizzying stretch where it set a record and then briefly tumbled as much as 10% from the mark within just a few weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 192 points, or 0.5%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.

Stocks have been turbulent because of questions about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. He’s said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.

Trump on Thursday said he would put 200% tariffs on European wine and champagne if the European Union doesn’t roll back a “nasty” tariff it placed on U.S. whiskey. The European Union announced that move on Wednesday, in response to U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum that kicked in earlier in the day. read more