Elon Musk’s announcement about withholding monetization from posts that get community noted on X (formerly Twitter) has triggered a divisive response among users, prompting discussions about the impact on online humor and content accuracy.
What Happened: On Sunday, Musk took to X and said any post on the platform that got corrected by Community Notes would become “ineligible for revenue share.”
These notes are part of X’s crowdsourced fact-checking system and are intended to add context or correct information in posts.
According to the tech billionaire, the rationale behind this decision is to prioritize “accuracy over sensationalism.” By doing so, he hopes to discourage the spread of inaccurate or misleading information on the platform.
However, the implications of this change have received mixed reactions from netizens.
While some users support Musk’s efforts to combat misinformation, seeing it as a necessary step to improve the platform’s credibility, others are concerned about the broader impact.
The community notes feature is often used for more than just correcting blatant inaccuracies.
For instance, users add context to memes or satirical content, even if the original post wasn’t factually incorrect. Some people argued that this change might stifle creativity and humor on the platform.
Some also asked whether there will be an appeal process for posts that receive community notes.
“Will there be an appeal process? Community Notes will sometimes hit memes in a fun fashion or add context/links even if the original post wasn’t misleading/wrong,” one person commented.
At the time of writing, Musk had not addressed these concerns. However, he previously stated that any attempts to weaponize community notes for demonetization would be evident due to the platform’s open-source nature.
Why It’s Important: This “slight change” to creator monetization comes at a time when the EU is scrutinizing Musk’s X for its handling of violent content and false misinformation related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It is pertinent to note that Community Notes is not a perfect way to correct a misleading post. Earlier this month, Musk’s much-endorsed feature erroneously flagged a graphic video shared by Donald Trump Jr.
Moreover, in April this year, Community Notes itself admitted that “some” posts with “false claims” might not get flagged as “The system is limited in reach by participation.”
Image Credits – Shutterstock
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