X (formerly Twitter) has announced that its Community Notes feature now has over 500,000 contributors from 70 countries. In 2023, over 37,000 notes were shown more than 14 billion times, and in the first four months of 2024, over 29,000 notes have been viewed over 9 billion times.
The Community Notes feature, initially called Birdwatch, was launched by Jack Dorsey in 2021. It allows users to contribute fact-checks and corrections, which are then displayed in-stream. The aim is to counter misinformation and limit its spread. Studies have shown that users repost content 61% less often after a post gets a Community Note, posts are deleted at higher rates once a Community Note has been attached, and Community Notes are perceived as more trustworthy than traditional misinformation flags.
However, the feature has limitations. It's not effective at dispelling all types of misinformation, primarily due to the slow process and X’s systematic requirements that all Notes need agreement from people of opposing political viewpoints before they’re displayed in the app. According to a study by MediaWise, only around 8.5% of the Community Notes created are ever displayed in the app.
X has been reducing its moderation workforce, from 2,294 staff in September to 1,849 as of April 2024, leading to concerns about the increase of hate speech, porn bots, and spam in the app. Despite these concerns, X believes that its user community is better placed to moderate content. However, the company’s ad intake is reportedly still down 50% on previous levels.
