Community Notes

Community Notes, formerly 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. As of November 2023, it has expanded to over 50 countries, with approximately 133,000 contributors. Notes are seen by up to 5% of the readers of the content they are attached to, amounting to tens of millions of views per day. Its goal is to debunk propaganda and misinformation, and its scope expanded when it replaced the Trust and Safety staff.

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 and expanded in November 2022. Notes are published by an algorithm not based on "majority rule", but instead agreement from users who have previously disagreed. Notes are rated based on their helpfulness and applied to potentially misleading content. Users are no longer able to report misleading content, and posts receiving notes on X are no longer eligible for ad revenue.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, considers the program as a "game changer for combating wrong information" and having "incredible potential for improving information accuracy". He has also claimed the system has been manipulated by state actors. Critics have 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. X states that the program is having a "significant impact on tackling disinformation on the platform".