TikTok has begun experimenting with a feature called "footnotes" designed to let users add extra context to videos they see. The early version is being introduced in the United States and is currently limited to accounts that meet certain rules set by the company. This new addition aims to improve the way information spreads by letting people play a role in shaping what others understand.
Only accounts that have been active for more than six months, belong to users over the age of eighteen, and have not broken any recent platform rules can take part. Those who qualify may apply directly, while others will be invited based on their activity. Once accepted, contributors will be able to attach notes to videos and also vote on how useful others’ notes appear. These votes decide whether any extra information becomes visible to everyone.
The system has been built to encourage different opinions to reach some level of agreement. Instead of simply labeling posts, it works by letting users rate each other’s input. Notes that enough people find useful become visible, while others remain hidden. The idea relies on shared judgment rather than strict decisions made by the platform alone.
This approach resembles a method used elsewhere where community members explain or challenge the meaning behind public content. The structure depends on open contribution, basic eligibility rules, and a focus on notes that more than one side can agree on. In both cases, the system avoids pushing only one side of a topic and instead lets competing views work together to decide what stays up.
Other social platforms have also started moving in a similar direction. One recently removed outside fact-checking programs and chose to build a system that works with user input alone. These shifts show a change in how major platforms want to handle false or unclear posts. Rather than facing pressure over how they check facts, they now give that power to their users.
For TikTok, the timing may be important. The company is still under political pressure and faces a deadline in June to change how it operates inside the United States. That order was given by the current administration and forces the parent company to either leave or sell its American side. This context gives the new feature added weight, as the company looks for ways to show it can manage content more openly.
TikTok has said it will keep collecting feedback from everyone involved. The tool remains under testing, and no final version has been confirmed. For now, it serves as one example of how platforms may try to shift their role in shaping what users believe.
Image: TikTok
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Only accounts that have been active for more than six months, belong to users over the age of eighteen, and have not broken any recent platform rules can take part. Those who qualify may apply directly, while others will be invited based on their activity. Once accepted, contributors will be able to attach notes to videos and also vote on how useful others’ notes appear. These votes decide whether any extra information becomes visible to everyone.
The system has been built to encourage different opinions to reach some level of agreement. Instead of simply labeling posts, it works by letting users rate each other’s input. Notes that enough people find useful become visible, while others remain hidden. The idea relies on shared judgment rather than strict decisions made by the platform alone.
This approach resembles a method used elsewhere where community members explain or challenge the meaning behind public content. The structure depends on open contribution, basic eligibility rules, and a focus on notes that more than one side can agree on. In both cases, the system avoids pushing only one side of a topic and instead lets competing views work together to decide what stays up.
Other social platforms have also started moving in a similar direction. One recently removed outside fact-checking programs and chose to build a system that works with user input alone. These shifts show a change in how major platforms want to handle false or unclear posts. Rather than facing pressure over how they check facts, they now give that power to their users.
For TikTok, the timing may be important. The company is still under political pressure and faces a deadline in June to change how it operates inside the United States. That order was given by the current administration and forces the parent company to either leave or sell its American side. This context gives the new feature added weight, as the company looks for ways to show it can manage content more openly.
TikTok has said it will keep collecting feedback from everyone involved. The tool remains under testing, and no final version has been confirmed. For now, it serves as one example of how platforms may try to shift their role in shaping what users believe.
Read next: OpenAI’s New Models Read Hand-Drawn Diagrams, Redefining How AI Sees and Thinks Visually
