Musk Ends Funding for X Factchecks
Elon Musk has stated that corrections to posts on X will no longer be eligible for payment as the social network faces increasing criticism for spreading misinformation.
Since taking over Twitter and rebranding it as X, Musk has significantly reduced content moderation, reinstated accounts of previously banned extremists, and introduced the option for users to purchase account verification, which allows them to profit from viral but often inaccurate posts.
Musk has recently emphasized the use of Community Notes, where X users police the platform, to combat misinformation.
However, Musk tweeted on Sunday about a change in how Community Notes will operate.
“Making a slight change to creator monetization: Any posts that are corrected by @CommunityNotes become ineligible for revenue share,” he wrote.
Furthermore, he added, “The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism.”
X compensates content creators who generate high views with a share of advertising revenue.
Musk cautioned against using corrections as a means to prevent X users from receiving payouts.
“Worth ‘noting’ that any attempts to weaponize @CommunityNotes to demonetize people will be immediately obvious, because all code and data is open source,” he posted.
Musk’s announcement comes after the introduction of a $16-a-month subscription plan on Friday, where those who pay more receive greater visibility for their replies. Earlier this year, a $8-a-month plan was introduced to obtain a “verified” account.
A recent study by the disinformation monitoring group NewsGuard revealed that verified, paying subscribers were major contributors to the spread of misinformation during the Israel-Hamas war.
“Nearly three-fourths of the most viral posts on X advancing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War are being pushed by ‘verified’ X accounts,” the group stated.
The study found that the top 250 posts promoting false or unverified narratives about the war were viewed over 100 million times globally in just one week.
NewsGuard reported that out of those 250 posts, 186 were made by verified accounts, and only 79 had been fact-checked by Community Notes.
Verified accounts “turned out to be a boon for bad actors sharing misinformation,” according to NewsGuard.
“For less than the cost of a movie ticket, they have gained the added credibility associated with the once-prestigious blue checkmark and enabling them to reach a larger audience on the platform,” the report stated.
While misinformation was found to spread widely on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram, the report noted that false narratives about the Israel-Hamas war tend to go viral on X before spreading elsewhere.
