X’s community notes failing to fact-check posts: Report

[Lauren]

X’S COMMUNITY NOTES IS FAILING TO FACT-CHECK POSTS CONTAINING INACCURATE INFORMATION, AND “ALLOWING MISINFORMATION TO SPREAD UNCHECKED”  — ACCORDING TO A NEW REPORT FROM THE CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE.

ACCORDING TO X, “COMMUNITY NOTES AIMS TO CREATE A BETTER-INFORMED WORLD, BY EMPOWERING PEOPLE ON X TO COLLABORATIVELY ADD HELPFUL NOTES TO POSTS THAT MIGHT BE MISLEADING.”

THE CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE CONDUCTED AN ANALYSIS OF ELECTION POSTS ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM AND SAYS IT FOUND 209 OUT OF 283 MISLEADING POSTS IN THEIR SAMPLE – HAVE ACCURATE COMMUNITY NOTES THAT ARE NOT BEING SHOWN TO ALL X USERS. THIS EQUATES TO ABOUT 74%.

THE REPORT FROM THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SAYS SOME OF THE INACCURATE CLAIMS MADE IN THE POSTS ARE THAT DEMOCRATS ARE IMPORTING ILLEGAL VOTERS, FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, THAT VOTING SYSTEMS ARE UNRELIABLE, AND THAT THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS STOLEN.

MISLEADING POSTS ABOUT ELECTION INFORMATION HAVE 2.2 BILLION VIEWS – AND THAT MISLEADING POSTS GOT 13 TIMES MORE VIEWS THAN THEIR COMMUNITY NOTES, THE REPORT STATES.

X’S OWNER, ELON MUSK, HAS NOT YET PUBLICLY COMMENTED ON THE REPORT.

IN THE PAST, HE’S SAID X’S COMMUNITY NOTES FEATURE IS “NOT PERFECT” BUT THE BEST FACT-CHECKING HE’S SEEN ON THE INTERNET.

MUSK CALLS HIMSELF A FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTIST AND HAS POSTED SEVERAL TIMES: “FREE SPEECH IS THE BEDROCK OF A FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY.”