Key Highlights:
- Elon Musk announces X’s monetization overhaul 📢💡
- European Union probes X’s misinformation handling 🇪🇺🔍
- Concerns rise over bias in community notes 🤔❗
In a world increasingly reliant on online sources for news and information, the spread of misinformation is a pressing concern. X, a leading social media platform, is taking a significant step to mitigate this issue. So, what’s changed? And what does it mean for the platform’s most influential users?
X’s New Policy: A Quest for Accuracy 🎯
You might be wondering, “What’s the latest update from X on this front?” In a move that has caught the eye of many, X has officially declared its intention not to reward tweets that promote misinformation. This revelation came straight from the horse’s mouth – Elon Musk, who stated that the company is introducing a “slight tweak” to its monetization approach. Specifically, tweets verified through community notes will no longer qualify for the revenue-sharing scheme. Why? Musk simplifies it best: to prioritize “accuracy over sensationalism”.
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Behind the Scenes: What Prompted the Change? 🕵️♂️
Let’s dive deeper. The decision seems to be a strategic move to discourage influential accounts from disseminating misleading viral content. The current global landscape, especially with the ongoing tension in Israel and Gaza, has seen an uptick in the spread of false narratives on X. In fact, concerns from journalists, fact-checkers, and researchers have escalated to the point that European Union authorities have initiated an inquiry into X’s management of war-related misinformation.
Musk’s Strategy Post Twitter Takeover 🚀
Ever since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter just a year back, the platform has seen several changes. Gone are the teams dedicated to sifting and highlighting credible tweets related to real-time news. Gone too are the tools that allowed users to flag misinformation within the app. Instead, X has placed its faith in its user-driven fact-checking instrument: community notes. But, as the adage goes, “every rose has its thorn”. Detractors argue that community notes are susceptible to bias and manipulation, a sentiment echoed by NewsGuard. Their recent study disclosed a staggering fact: 74% of viral misinformation posts about the Israel-Hamas conflict were propagated by ‘verified’ X accounts.
BBC researcher, Shayan Sardarizadeh, also highlighted that numerous influential users, frequently subjected to “community noting,” have expressed their disapproval of the new policy. Musk, however, remains undeterred. He confidently states that any exploitation of @CommunityNotes to financially harm individuals will be “instantly recognizable.” Yet, he remains tight-lipped about how X plans to tackle potential manipulation attempts. As of now, X has maintained its silence and hasn’t issued any official comments.
Interestingly, most of the negative responses to this announcement by Elon Musk are coming from some of the most Community Noted blue tick accounts on this app. https://t.co/MtgmX4vjoK pic.twitter.com/hddge0m0vN
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 29, 2023
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Sergio Richi
Editor, Logll