Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, has expressed his belief that Twitter is a reliable source of information on the Internet but that more transparency is needed to build trust. In a tweet, Musk stated, “Twitter is arguably already the least wrong source of truth on the Internet, but we obviously still have a long way to go.” He goes on to say that enabling the operation of @CommunityNotes at a large scale and providing maximum transparency about how Twitter works are fundamental to building trust.
This tweet comes amid ongoing concerns about the spread of misinformation and fake news on social media platforms. Musk, who is a frequent user of Twitter and has a large following, has previously spoken out about the importance of fact-checking and accurate information on the platform.
Twitter is arguably already the least wrong source of truth on the Internet, but we obviously still have a long way to go.
Enabling @CommunityNotes to operate at very large scale and providing maximum transparency about how Twitter works are fundamental to building trust.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 19, 2023
What is Community Notes?
Twitter has introduced a new feature called Community Notes, which aims to provide additional context to potentially misleading tweets. The feature allows users to collaboratively add notes to tweets, and if a certain number of users from different backgrounds rate the note as helpful, it will be publicly shown on the tweet. The process is open and transparent, and the algorithm used for Community Notes is open source and publicly available on GitHub. Community Notes do not represent Twitter’s viewpoint and cannot be edited or modified by Twitter teams. However, tweets with Community Notes may be removed or addressed by Twitter if found to be violating Twitter’s rules, terms of service, or privacy policy. Users can apply to become a Community Notes contributor and can rate notes based on how helpful they are. Tweet authors can also request additional review if they disagree that a Community Note provides important context about their tweet.
