Community Notes help reduce the virality of false information on X, study finds

['Stefan Milne', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] UW News 2025-09-18 00:00:00

Community Notes help reduce the virality of false information on X, study findsStefan Milne UW NewsIn 2022, after Elon Musk bought what’s now X, the company laid off 80% of its content moderation team and made Community Notes the platform’s main form of fact-checking. Previously a pilot program at Twitter, Community Notes lets users propose attaching a comment to a specific post — usually to add context or correct an inaccurate fact. A University of Washington-led study of X found that posts with Community Notes attached were less prone to going viral and got less engagement. The authors only looked at posts that had notes proposed in early 2023, and X has significantly updated its Community Notes methods since then. This research was funded in part by a UW Information School Strategic Research Fund award and an Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative award.