When the Community Notes feature was first rolled out on what used to be Twitter, I was a bit skeptical. As with all fact-checking methods used by social media companies, I assumed it would be nothing more than a way for free speech-hating lefties to censor folks who oppose their political beliefs.
I had good reason for being skeptical, given the company’s history. Even under Elon Musk, I figured there was a decent chance that the feature would be abused for political purposes.
I am happy to report that I was wrong.
Community Notes has turned out to be a pretty useful feature for correcting misinformation and disinformation coming from sources from all across the political spectrum. Recently, it was used to repudiate accusations of racism made against a child at a Kansas City Chiefs game by a race-baiting commentator at Deadspin.
The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress https://t.co/9eGBsA8nca
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) November 27, 2023
Yet, Community Notes came to the rescue, pointing out that the child that Deadspin sought to destroy had half his face painted red and the other half painted black because those are the Chief’s colors. Imagine how far the commentator’s lie would have traveled before being corrected if the feature didn’t exist. Now, as long as the post remains active, it will have the Community Notes attached to it, showing that the writer was lying about the child in order to get clicks and foment more racial tensions.
The feature was also used to debunk claims made by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and various media outlets who falsely claimed a Tennessee town had banned “being gay in public.” The lie was based on an article from The New Republic that made this claim even though the ordinance it referenced actually only prohibits indecent exposure and sexual conduct in public spaces, which would apply to heterosexual and homosexual folks.
Recently, Musk announced that X was changing its monetization policy. Under the update, posts that get corrected by the Community Notes feature become ineligible for revenue sharing, which means that purposefully spreading misinformation or disinformation on the platform will no longer be profitable. This move will remove the incentive to write sensational and inaccurate posts in order to get clicks.
The decision to democratize the fact-checking system was a brilliant move on Musk’s part, one that never would have been made under the company’s prior leadership. Instead of relying on leftist propaganda mills to be the arbiters of what is truthful and what is not, he is letting the people work it out on their own.
Is Community Notes completely devoid of political motivations? Of course not. Some users have undoubtedly had political bias when writing notes. But the beauty of the feature is that when someone writes a note, it does not immediately go up on the site. Other Community Notes users have to rate a note as “helpful” before it will be seen publicly, which cuts down on the bias. Moreover, people of various political leanings are using the feature, so it provides a built-in checks and balances system to ensure that users are getting the most accurate information possible.
By touting the Community Notes feature, Musk has tapped into a reality that other platforms have not: The idea that allowing the people to “police” information on the platform instead of handing it over to biased fact checkers would be the best way to ensure accuracy. It is an idea that is loathed by those on the far left, who are still crying about the fact that they can no longer maintain supremacy over X by simply censoring those they don’t like.
