X introduces Community Notes for videos in a bid to combat fake news

As X-owner Elon Musk recently said there are no great social networks right now but he is trying to make at least one. X (formerly Twitter) has taken another step to combat fake news by introducing Community Notes for videos. Therefore, creators of AI videos, deceptive edits, and manipulated clips – beware. 

The announcement came earlier this week from the official @Community Notes account.

Community Notes is an X feature that allows users to add fact checks or other important context to posts. Those who apply to take part in the Community Notes program can submit their own fact checks or rate notes left on other posts. Highly rated notes are then embedded as context to the post it was left on for all of the platform’s users to see. 

Users who are part of the Community Notes program get rated based on their submissions and input. In order to write a Community Note on media, a user must have previously had their own originally authored notes added to a tweet. This builds their Writing Impact Score. If a user wants to add a Community Note to a media post, they first need to have a Writing Impact Score of 10.

One of the good ideas from Elon Musk’s Twitter, now known as X, has been to emphasize the platform’s Community Notes feature. While it existed under the old Twitter, then known as Birdwatch, the company did not spotlight the crowdsourced “fact checking” feature anywhere near as much as it does now.

Earlier this year, X launched Community Notes for images. At the time, the company said it would soon roll out for other media types as well. 

One big difference between Community Notes for posts and Community Notes on media like images and videos is that, according to X, the Community Note will follow the image or video if it’s reposted by another user.

“Notes written on videos will automatically show on other posts containing matching videos,” X’s announcement said.

However, while Community Notes sometimes works as intended, the feature is sometimes manipulated in bad faith itself. For example, as Gizmodo reported earlier this week, a rumor about Logan Paul and his fiancee Nina Agdal was “debunked” by a Community Note that linked to a porn video as its source. As of publishing, the Community Note containing a porn video link is still visible on the post.