A tool allows you to see which X accounts (ex-Twitter) have received the most Community Notes. These Notes, which were designed as a way to moderate users and prevent the spread of fake news, are however controversial tools.
Since December 31, 2023, it is now possible to know which users of X (formerly Twitter) receive the most Community Notes. It’s @Elipsoid, a user of the social network, who explains having developed the tool. The latter allows you to see how many notes users have received, in the form of a ranking of the most fact-checked Internet users — and it perfectly illustrates the problems encountered by these Community Notes. You can access the site here.
What are Community Notes?
Community Notes are, as their name suggests, notes that appear under certain messages on X. The notes take the form of small boxes, like during a retweet, and they are created by the users themselves, in the aim of providing details, context, or to fact-check the comments of the tweet.
They operate on the basis of collaboration, on an idea inspired by the management of Wikipedia. Not all X users can write Notes: only those who have already helped the community, by evaluating the usefulness of other Notes, can write them in turn.
Once a Note is written, it does not appear immediately under the targeted post. As explained the site dedicated to Community Note“ the notes are then evaluated by other contributors based on their usefulness. Ratings are only shown on posts if they are found useful by enough people from different backgrounds. »
Once a Note is deemed useful, it appears under the targeted post. It is not possible for the author of a tweet that has received a Community Note to delete it — it is only possible to request a review from the X teams.
Why are Community Notes problematic?
In 2023, users of X (formerly Twitter) were able to see more and more Community Notes appear under certain tweets, in part because of Elon Musk. The boss of the social network has in fact praised their effectiveness, particularly in combating fake news – and used their existence to justify the removal of the moderation service. However, it was not Elon Musk who created the Notes.
The system has existed since 2021, and was first called “ bird watch », before being renamed in November 2022, as recalled by BFMTV. The Notes, which initially existed only in English, have since been deployed in several other languages, including French. And, with their democratization, several problems appeared.
As several media outlets have noted, the Notes would not make it possible to effectively combat fake news. The flaws in their operation were particularly highlighted by the renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: several Notes were incorrect, further amplifying the disinformation on the platform.
The Community Notes would also reveal “ ideological biass”, as Le Parisien writes. FranceInfo also cites research by consultant Florent Lefebvre, which shows that the Notes would target left-wing messages more. “ The officially ‘left’ accounts clearly receive a lot more. The important executives of the National Rally or Reconquest are apparently less targeted, unlike LFI or EELV “, he explains.
He thus notes a “ relentlessness on Sandrine Rousseau “. The ecological MP, whose messages on Twitter receive numerous reactions, would be disproportionately affected by the phenomenon. As FranceInfo notes, certain Notes would serve in particular to cast doubt on climate change, a subject that Sandrine Rousseau regularly addresses. She had gone elsewhere complaint about X in August 2023denouncing the fact that his publications were systematically targeted – before his tweet also received a Community Note.
Still, Notes are useful in a large number of cases. Internet users regularly use it appropriately, providing context where it is needed, and correcting incorrect information. We see it in particular for certain misleading advertisements, or under conspiratorial videos.
What do we learn from this ranking?
The ranking confirms the analyzes carried out so far: Notes are indeed used to fact-check certain types of accounts, but would also target other personalities. The top 5 of the ranking thus includes two ultra-fast news accounts relaying often erroneous information (the Brazilian media Choquei and the English-speaking media Daily Loud), and two accounts relaying conspiratorial comments. The latest account affected is that of a Malaysian far-right blogger.
There are several French accounts in the ranking. The ultra-fast and controversial Cerfia news account is in 41st place, just before BFMTV, in 42nd. Far-right politician Florian Philippot is in 53rd place, and Sandrine Rousseau in 140th.
The ranking also provides several interesting data. We thus learn that Elon Musk is in 28th place among the accounts having received the most Notes, and that the two X accounts of the conspiratorial American representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, her official account and her personal account, appear in the list.
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