On X (formerly Twitter), posts corrected by the community will no longer be monetized

Disinformation will no longer pay. Elon Musk announced on Sunday October 29 that messages corrected by the community will no longer benefit from the monetization system which rewards the most viral content.

Accused of promoting disinformation on his social network “Slight change to the monetization program: any post corrected by community ratings becomes ineligible for the revenue sharing program. The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy rather than sensationalism,” the businessman tweeted.

Since this summer, X has allowed Internet users to comment or clarify questionable messages by posting “community notes”. To prevent a potential perverse effect of his new strategy, Elon Musk explained in a second message: “it is important to note that any attempt to use community ratings as a weapon to demonetize people will immediately be highlighted, because all the code and data are open source. In other words, its system will be able to identify non-legitimate corrections.

On X, Internet users are wary of a certain form of censorship. “And this is how you censor. What happens when users of community notes form a group to target different opinions after this announcement?”, worries a user under the billionaire’s post.

For several months, Elon Musk has been accused of letting false information invade the network, in particular since he reduced the moderation teams and made the blue “certification” checkmark a charge, previously reserved for verified users. These paying users see their posts highlighted by the algorithm.

An analysis by the international platform against disinformation NewsGuard indicates that “certified” users on “Verified accounts on more commitment.

Paid certification “has proven to be a boon for bad actors sharing misinformation,” NewsGuard adds. “They benefit from the credibility associated with the blue tick, prestigious under the old system, and can reach a wider audience.”

Since the Hamas attack on October 7, the platform has been flooded with violent videos and images, many of which are fake, dating back several years or coming from different locations. Their authors may display blue checkmarks even though they are fake media or fake organizational accounts.

On October 28, Elon Musk announced the creation of a new paid subscription alongside the Premium plan, its Premium variant. These different formulas allow the social network to vary its sources of income and to depend less on advertisers. This new subscription, at 16 dollars per month, allows you to boost your responses on the platform, once again offering significant visibility.