There have been several changes on Twitter ordered by its new owner, Elon Musk. Mostly, the changes are to promote his advocacy of “free speech” and equality. The Community Notes feature will ascertain free speech does not necessarily mean you can claim anything as the truth.
Community-Sourced Corrections
Community Notes was announced on Saturday and will slowly be introduced to all Twitter users worldwide. It’s not the platform’s first to have this kind of feature. Previously under Jack Dorsey’s leadership, Birdwatch was launched in 2021, according to Engadget.
The feature will allow other users to contribute to tweets, whether to add more context or correct it if it contains wrong information. Although, it will not work the same as a tweet, wherein it will be published immediately just by typing and clicking “tweet.”
There are certain steps to take and it will first be reviewed by fellow Contributors. Once the note is considered to be helpful, it will be rated as such and will be added to the tweet for all viewers to see. This is to make sure that the note will actually be beneficial to battling misinformation.
How Will It Work?
First off, you won’t be able to just add notes as you please. Being a Twitter user won’t cut it, and you will have to sign up as a Contributor. Once you’ve signed up, you may begin hunting for tweets that present misleading or wrong information.
You will be met with a multiple-choice question and an open-text field to explain why you think the tweet spreads misinformation. Contributors will have to include links to prove that the data shown is not accurate or right.
The contributions will all be public, but the ones that have been rated as “helpful” the most will appear directly on the tweet, as mentioned in Twitter’s Community Notes Guide. Contributors who have notes that are consistently rated as “helpful” are noticed by the platform’s reputation models.
The feature will be in the hands of the Contributors entirely. Twitter will not be able to edit, label, or modify any contribution. That being said, it still falls under Twitter’s Rules, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy, and it will be taken down once a violation has been detected.
If you are the author of the post and find a contribution that does contrary to its purpose, you may request an additional review. The note will then be shown to Contributors on the separate Community Notes site.
This does not guarantee the outcome that the original author wants, however. It is up to the Contributors whether they will review the issue once it’s brought up, which may mean that the additional community review won’t change anything.
If you believe that a contribution is not only damaging but violates Twitter rules as well, you may just report the note directly and not appeal to the Contributors’ ratings. However, reporting the contribution will only mean that it will be reviewed, not taken down immediately.