At the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Friday, X’s Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino announced plans to extend the platform’s community-driven fact-checking initiative, Community Notes, to newspapers and other media outlets. “It is not impossible to imagine that this particular tool is shared by X to companies like yours, other platforms,” Yaccarino remarked while speaking to Pierre Louette, the CEO of Groupe Les Echos-Le Parisien.
Originally launched in 2021, Community Notes allows users to fact-check misleading content on the platform by adding supplementary context through volunteer contributions. These additional notes are subsequently evaluated by other users, known as “noters,” with X’s algorithms determining which notes are displayed alongside the original misleading posts.
Since acquiring the platform in 2022, Elon Musk has advocated for the tool as a defense against misinformation, occasionally positioning it as a substitute for traditional journalism.
However, the effectiveness of the system varies depending on the subject matter. While it performs well in fact-checking scientific and medical assertions, it has encountered challenges with more heated issues, such as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Yaccarino highlighted that the initiative can “force out bias,” noting that over 500,000 volunteers are actively participating in the fact-checking process.
During the same panel discussion, Yaccarino expressed sentiments aligning with Musk’s views, attributing the financial struggles of legacy media outlets to the migration of online advertising revenue towards technology companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.
“We’ve moved to a world of a clickbait mentality and a partisan news environment that actually works against the legacy revenue models,” Yaccarino stated. Previously, she served as the head of NBCUniversal’s global advertising business. “When you look at the point of origin of the problem, it is because we moved to this world where the fringe is loud, and we want someone to click first.”
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