Elon Musk’s X app is once again expanding its Community Notes feature with a new ‘request a note’ option for posts.
The company says the latest addition will help users who come across any posts on the app that they feel are making some questionable claims
A new example was rolled out by the company that shows how the feature would be displayed. Users can enter the post menu on their PC’s desktop and request for the community note. This flags it for checking by contributors on Community Notes.
As revealed by the X app, people on the app could request the Community Note presented on posts that they feel will give more benefits. In cases when there are enough requests, the contributors would witness alerts popping up and therefore could propose notes.
In this manner, anyone who’s not a contributor can assist and therefore help contributors become more aware of where notes could be helpful.
We feel this might be a great way to ward off false or misleading data on the platform as it helps users seek notes instead of relying on those already embedded into the system. But again, the user has to put in a little effort to make the request first. Still, we feel this is a wonderful supplemental process to the entire system of Community Notes on X.
To process the request, users need to have verified details like their phone number linked to the profile which is a top requirement for all X Premium account holders.
At the start, accounts can submit a maximum limit of five requests for notes each day. But X feels it could increase if the requests drive more useful notes. Remember, Community Notes has always been one of X’s biggest and best innovations that Elon Musk has promoted with time.
We first saw it come into existence as Birdwatch under Twitter. It’s been valued for ridding misinformation and decreasing the spread of false claims. And in today’s time, that’s pivotal with AI in place.
However, some do express concern that the app might be relying too heavily on Community Notes to do all the work in terms of moderating content on the app. Remember, Musk has already pulled out close to 80% of the overall staff.
Many of the positions reduced were regarding content moderation and safety online. Musk hoped to limit the firm’s overheads by adding greater reliance on feedback and also fact checks via crowd-sourcing.
This is in line with Musk’s ideology that users should be the real bearers of truth and not the X app’s management. This is why he keeps on referring to Community Notes as the best moderation source.
But the truth cannot be denied regarding Community Notes not being able to singlehandedly handle the complete scope of moderation on the app as proven by research in the past. This is what has given rise to more misinformation amplification and so many narratives going unchecked on the app.
Remember, it’s a crucial period right now with the American Election period upon us all. This is a huge issue as the past has proven how conspiracies during this time could start gaining traction on X during the campaign’s start.
While Community Notes is a great system, it might really not be able to cope with the likes of covering content detection on X and the need for further clarification.
Only time can tell how effective it will be as the election date comes nearer and the aftermath will soon be visible to us all.
Image: X
Read next: OpenAI Launches New GPT-4o Mini That Surpasses Other AI Models In Affordability And Speed
The company says the latest addition will help users who come across any posts on the app that they feel are making some questionable claims
A new example was rolled out by the company that shows how the feature would be displayed. Users can enter the post menu on their PC’s desktop and request for the community note. This flags it for checking by contributors on Community Notes.
As revealed by the X app, people on the app could request the Community Note presented on posts that they feel will give more benefits. In cases when there are enough requests, the contributors would witness alerts popping up and therefore could propose notes.
In this manner, anyone who’s not a contributor can assist and therefore help contributors become more aware of where notes could be helpful.
We feel this might be a great way to ward off false or misleading data on the platform as it helps users seek notes instead of relying on those already embedded into the system. But again, the user has to put in a little effort to make the request first. Still, we feel this is a wonderful supplemental process to the entire system of Community Notes on X.
To process the request, users need to have verified details like their phone number linked to the profile which is a top requirement for all X Premium account holders.
At the start, accounts can submit a maximum limit of five requests for notes each day. But X feels it could increase if the requests drive more useful notes. Remember, Community Notes has always been one of X’s biggest and best innovations that Elon Musk has promoted with time.
We first saw it come into existence as Birdwatch under Twitter. It’s been valued for ridding misinformation and decreasing the spread of false claims. And in today’s time, that’s pivotal with AI in place.
However, some do express concern that the app might be relying too heavily on Community Notes to do all the work in terms of moderating content on the app. Remember, Musk has already pulled out close to 80% of the overall staff.
Many of the positions reduced were regarding content moderation and safety online. Musk hoped to limit the firm’s overheads by adding greater reliance on feedback and also fact checks via crowd-sourcing.
This is in line with Musk’s ideology that users should be the real bearers of truth and not the X app’s management. This is why he keeps on referring to Community Notes as the best moderation source.
But the truth cannot be denied regarding Community Notes not being able to singlehandedly handle the complete scope of moderation on the app as proven by research in the past. This is what has given rise to more misinformation amplification and so many narratives going unchecked on the app.
Remember, it’s a crucial period right now with the American Election period upon us all. This is a huge issue as the past has proven how conspiracies during this time could start gaining traction on X during the campaign’s start.
While Community Notes is a great system, it might really not be able to cope with the likes of covering content detection on X and the need for further clarification.
Only time can tell how effective it will be as the election date comes nearer and the aftermath will soon be visible to us all.
Image: X
Read next: OpenAI Launches New GPT-4o Mini That Surpasses Other AI Models In Affordability And Speed
