Community Notes

Community Notes, formerly known as Birdwatch, is a feature on X (formerly Twitter) where contributors can add context such as fact-checks under a post, image or video. It is a community-driven content moderation program, intended to provide helpful and informative context, based on a crowd-sourced system. Notes are applied to potentially misleading content by an algorithm not based on majority rule, but instead agreement from users on different sides of the political spectrum.

The program launched in 2021 and became widespread on X in 2023. Initially shown to U.S. users only, notes were popularized in March 2022 over misinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine followed by COVID-19 misinformation in October. Birdwatch was then rebranded to Community Notes and expanded in November 2022. As of November 2023, it had approximately 133,000 contributors; notes reportedly received tens of millions of views per day, with its goal being to counter propaganda and misinformation, although according to Mashable, most users do not see notes correcting such content.

Critics have also highlighted how it has spread disinformation, is vulnerable to manipulation, and has been inconsistent in its application of notes, as well as its efforts in combating of misinformation. Elon Musk, the owner of X, considers the program as a gamechanger and having considerable potential, and as of December 2023, according to Musk, it has been manipulated by state actors.