In 2022, after Elon Musk bought what's now X, the company laid off 80% of its content moderation team and made Community Notes the platform's main form of fact-checking. Previously a pilot program at Twitter, Community Notes lets users propose attaching a comment to a specific post - usually to add context or correct an inaccurate fact. If other users with diverse views vote that the comment is useful, as measured by X's algorithm, then the note is appended to the post. Other social media platforms, including Meta and YouTube, have since followed.
A University of Washington-led study of X found that posts with Community Notes attached were less prone to going viral and got less engagement. After getting a Community Note, on average, reposts dropped 46% and likes dropped 44%.
"We found that Community Notes are effective when attached, especially in reducing engagement that signals support for the content, such as reposts and likes," said senior author Martin Saveski, a UW assistant professor in the Information School. "But the spread of misinformation on social media is complex and multifaceted, and it requires multiple approaches working together to effectively curb it. Systems like Community Notes are an important addition to the platforms' toolbox."
The team published its findings Sept. 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
