X, the platform once known as Twitter, is intensifying its battle against misinformation. After facing delays in rectifying misleading content, X is rolling out upgrades to its Community Notes fact-checking system. This initiative is geared towards hastening the fact-checking process and notifying users of posts containing misinformation.
Recent global events, such as the terrorist attacks in Israel, highlighted the volume and speed with which information, both accurate and misleading, circulates on platforms like X. CEO Linda Yaccarino acknowledged the challenges, particularly with more than 50 million posts referencing the terrorist attack within days.
In the past day, hundreds of new notes have gone live, matched to thousands of posts, being seen millions of times. Thank you to all of the contributors out there — your work is being found helpful by many, many people across viewpoints and across the political spectrum.
— Community Notes (@CommunityNotes) October 11, 2023
In the…
Enhancements in the Pipeline
In its latest response, X has unveiled several improvements:
- Note Previews: Available on Android and web, soon to be on iOS, allowing users to swiftly rate fact-checks.
- Increased Notifications: Users who interact with misleading content will receive notifications, prompting potential post removals or edits.
- Media Matching: Fact-checks on media content, like images and videos, will be more widely displayed, enhancing the reach of correct information.
Despite these advances, challenges persist. Initial fact-checking delays and untagged misleading posts with significant views underline the magnitude of the task.
Yaccarino's decision to skip the WSJ Tech Live conference, focusing instead on platform safety, reflects the platform's urgent need to address misinformation. However, this decision wasn't without its critics, referencing her recent Code conference appearance.
Thank you to all the contributors who’ve been active over the last few days, helping to keep people on X informed. We wanted to share some of the impact of your work:
— Community Notes (@CommunityNotes) October 10, 2023
• In just three days, you wrote notes seen tens of millions of times.
• More than 500 unique notes relating…
The recent policy updates further stress the commitment of X to handle misinformation and graphic content. The company's collaboration with @GIFCT_official to counteract terrorist content distribution highlights this intent.
Owned by Elon Musk, X's Community Notes embodies Musk's vision of a superior fact-checking mechanism. He had previously criticized Twitter's moderation strategies, championing the Notes system as a pivotal tool for enhancing platform accuracy. Under his leadership, Community Notes have assumed greater importance, especially as the company’s structure evolved, impacting teams responsible for trust, safety, and moderation.
