Musk's X Fails to Tackle U.S. Election Misinformation, New Report Finds

Elon Musk’s platform, X (formerly Twitter), has a feature called Community Notes. This tool is supposed to help users check facts and correct false information. However, a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) says this feature is not working very well.

According to CCDH, they checked 283 misleading posts, and 209 of them did not show correct notes for everyone. 

This means that about 74% of the misleading posts stayed uncorrected for users. These posts have been seen 2.2 billion times! CCDH suggests that Musk should spend more money to make the platform safer and clearer for users.

Musk’s company, X, has not replied to questions about this report from Reuters.

The Community Notes feature started last year. It lets users add comments to posts to help point out false or misleading information. Instead of having a team of fact-checkers, the responsibility is placed on the users. This crowdsourcing method means anyone can help. But the recent report shows that it has not worked well to stop the spread of false claims, especially about the upcoming U.S. elections.

This report comes after X lost a lawsuit from CCDH earlier this year. The lawsuit said the platform allowed hate speech to grow. Social media sites like X have faced a lot of criticism for letting false information and conspiracy theories spread easily. This includes false claims about elections and vaccines, which can confuse people and change how they think.

In August, secretaries of state from five U.S. states urged Musk to fix the platform’s AI chatbot. They said the chatbot was spreading wrong information about the election coming up on November 5. They stressed that this false information could affect the election results and make people lose trust.

Musk has also been in the news for his political comments. In July, he supported Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president. This endorsement has raised questions since polls show that Trump is in a close race with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

As misinformation continues to grow on social media, it becomes more important for people to have accurate information. Users depend on these platforms for news, especially about important events like elections. When people see false claims go unchecked, it can make it hard for them to know what is true.

Musk’s X can be a powerful tool for spreading accurate information. However, if features like Community Notes do not work properly, the platform could add to the confusion and misinformation.