Elon Musk, the executive chairman of X, recently announced a significant policy change aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation and sensationalism on the platform. In an X post on October 29, Musk revealed that posts corrected by X’s community-driven fact-checking feature, known as Community Notes, will no longer be eligible for revenue sharing.
The move is a clear attempt to encourage greater accuracy in posts, discouraging the dissemination of misleading or inaccurate information. Community Notes is staffed by a team of crowdsourced fact-checkers who work to correct and clarify the content shared on the platform. With this new policy in place, posts that have been corrected by these fact-checkers will no longer receive a share of the platform’s revenue.
Elon Musk emphasized that the motivation behind this change is to prioritize accuracy over sensationalism. He believes that this policy shift will deter any potential abuse or weaponization of the feature. Importantly, Musk pointed out that the data used for fact-checking and correction is open-source, making any manipulation of the system readily apparent.
This announcement sparked a variety of responses within the X community and on Crypto Twitter. Some users questioned the finer details of the policy, seeking clarification on whether notes added for context, rather than direct corrections, would also be ineligible for revenue sharing. Others suggested that memes or context-providing notes should be exceptions to the rule.
On the other hand, many expressed support for this change, recognizing it as a positive step toward combating the spread of false information. Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus, in particular, encouraged users to pay attention to those who vehemently disagreed with the new policy, hinting that it was those who profited from spreading misinformation who opposed it.
X, however, has not disclosed the specific number of accounts eligible for monetization, nor have they revealed details about the 100,000 contributors from 44 different countries who participate in the fact-checking process, as noted in a statement by X CEO Linda Yaccarino on October 26. This leaves some questions about the practical implementation of this new policy within the X community.
