Elon Musk has raised concerns about the manipulation of X’s Community Notes feature, previously known as Birdwatch. This feature, designed to allow users to share context and factual information, has allegedly been “gamed” by various entities, including governments and legacy media. Musk’s remarks came after a recent incident where Community Notes contradicted former President Donald J. Trump, sparking an online controversy that Musk quickly addressed by supporting Trump’s claims.
Community Notes is a crowdsourced tool, enabling any user to apply as a contributor. It was rebranded after Musk's acquisition of Twitter, with an elevated role in the social media platform's ecosystem. The tool's purpose is to empower the community to participate actively in providing context and factual information on various topics. However, Musk believes its potential for manipulation has compromised its integrity.
Musk expressed his belief that Community Notes has been used to sway public opinion favorably towards specific individuals or entities. He pointed out that the feature's recent contradiction of Trump highlighted possible flaws, suggesting that governments and legacy media might be influencing its content. In response, Musk announced that X is currently working on a fix to address these concerns and improve the tool's reliability.
Adding to his concerns, Musk recently engaged in discussions about Ukrainian politics on X, particularly discussing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A poll conducted on the platform favored Zelenskyy, but Musk viewed the outcome as problematic, suspecting it was influenced by the Ukrainian government. According to Ars Technica, Musk indicated that the Ukrainian government's involvement presented a conflict of interest in the poll results.
The rebranding and increased significance of Community Notes under Musk's leadership have amplified these issues, as the platform now relies more heavily on this feature for sharing context and factual data. Musk's concerns underscore the challenge of ensuring that such platforms remain unbiased and free from external manipulation.
