Community Notes on X, previously known as Birdwatch back when the platform still held the name Twitter, are a powerful tool because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up stopping the spread of misinformation. However, it turns out that these Community Notes are also being used to target major corporations like Apple, Uber, Samsung among others, as reported by WSJ.
These Notes are supposed to fact check claims being made, and the ones that receive the most votes are the ones that people end up seeing. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Apple posted an ad on X back in August which claimed that its phones were made in a sustainable manner. In spite of the fact that this is the case, a Community Note quickly popped up which revealed how Apple uses planned obsolescence to make its older phones too slow to use in order to force people to buy new models.
The Note also pointed to a 2020 court case in which Apple was legally compelled to pay a $500 million settlement when its actions were brought to light. It bears mentioning that this note later vanished when other X users began to downvote it, with one message clarifying that Notes should not be used to hold any kind of negative campaigns against corporations that a particular user might not be all that fond of.
As a result, X released a statement saying that future Community Notes will require a larger quantity of positive votes in order to become visible underneath an ad. Many have criticized Musk, a self proclaimed free-speech absolutist, for attempting to stifle speech on his platform, but the embattled CEO of X and Tesla has a good reason for wanting to keep these Notes in check.
X has been seeing its revenues plummet in the aftermath of the Elon Musk acquisition, and a major component of this downfall is that many companies just don’t want to advertise on the platform anymore. If the threat of a harsh Community Note remains ever present, companies will be even more hesitant to advertise on X than might have been the case otherwise. This will inevitably lead to the company’s downfall, as well as public embarrassment for the outspoken Elon Musk.
H/T: @kmb42600 / X
Read next: California's New "Delete Act" Challenges Data Brokers
These Notes are supposed to fact check claims being made, and the ones that receive the most votes are the ones that people end up seeing. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Apple posted an ad on X back in August which claimed that its phones were made in a sustainable manner. In spite of the fact that this is the case, a Community Note quickly popped up which revealed how Apple uses planned obsolescence to make its older phones too slow to use in order to force people to buy new models.
The Note also pointed to a 2020 court case in which Apple was legally compelled to pay a $500 million settlement when its actions were brought to light. It bears mentioning that this note later vanished when other X users began to downvote it, with one message clarifying that Notes should not be used to hold any kind of negative campaigns against corporations that a particular user might not be all that fond of.
As a result, X released a statement saying that future Community Notes will require a larger quantity of positive votes in order to become visible underneath an ad. Many have criticized Musk, a self proclaimed free-speech absolutist, for attempting to stifle speech on his platform, but the embattled CEO of X and Tesla has a good reason for wanting to keep these Notes in check.
X has been seeing its revenues plummet in the aftermath of the Elon Musk acquisition, and a major component of this downfall is that many companies just don’t want to advertise on the platform anymore. If the threat of a harsh Community Note remains ever present, companies will be even more hesitant to advertise on X than might have been the case otherwise. This will inevitably lead to the company’s downfall, as well as public embarrassment for the outspoken Elon Musk.
H/T: @kmb42600 / X
Read next: California's New "Delete Act" Challenges Data Brokers
