Elon Musk is not well-chosen with Community Notes , the crowdsourced fact - checking computer program that bring bill to set misinformation on his social media chopine X. And the billionaire enounce he ’s now going to “ fix ” Community eminence so that it tally with him , claiming without evidence that it ’s being manipulate by authorities and the media .
“ regrettably , @CommunityNotes is increasingly being punt by governing & bequest culture medium . Working to prepare this , ” Musk tweetedThursday .
Why is Musk upset ? It look like the billionaire does n’t like notes that have seem under tweet about Ukraine in recent daylight , which are fact - checking several lies being spread by the U.S. government . President Donald Trump has cozied up to Russia ’s President Vladimir Putin , alarm European allies , and has aver a turn of false things about Ukraine and the country ’s chairwoman Volodymyr Zelenskyy .
Elon Musk meets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado on 19 January 2025.Photo: U.S. Air Force / DVIDS / Justin R. Pacheco
outdo , for instance , called Zelenskyy a “ dictator ” in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday and has repeatedly suggested this hebdomad that Ukraine was the one to really start the warfare . In reality , Russia encroach upon Ukraine in Feb. 2022 without provocation and continues to fill component part of the nation while waging war against the Ukrainian people .
Trump has also claimed that Zelenskyy has just a 4 % favorable reception rating among his own people , something he said twice on Wednesday but but is n’t true . As CNN notes , a opinion poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology aver 57 % of Ukrainianstrust their President of the United States . Technically , Ukraine polls do n’t ask about “ approval ” but trust . It ’s not clear-cut where Trump heard the 4 % number .
But Musk does n’t like anyone point out clobber like this in Community Notes , go on a tirade Thursday about how the Ukrainian president is n’t actually popular .
“ It should be utterly obvious that a Zelensky - controlled pate about his OWN approval is not believable ! ! If Zelensky was actually loved by the people of Ukraine , he would hold an election , ” Musk said .
The understanding Ukraine has n’t oblige any elections since the start of the state of war is that hundreds of thousands of mass are fighting and dying , a fact that some MAGA conservatives do n’t think is sufficient .
“ He knows he would lose in a landslide , despite having seized ascendance of ALL Ukrainian media , so he canceled the election , ” Musk continued . “ In reality , he is despised by the people of Ukraine , which is why he has reject to hold in an election . I challenge Zelensky to harbor an election and controvert this . He will not . ”
Musk lead on to spell that President Trump is , “ right to ignore him and solve for peace self-governing of the foul , monolithic grafting machine prey off the all in bodies of Ukrainian soldiers . ”
Musk has a longsighted history of messing with X , formerly known as Twitter before he buy it , to gibe his worldview . The chopine has become a cesspit of racist hate and extremism thanks to tweaks made by Musk , like allowing anyone with $ 8 to expend a blue “ substantiation ” checkmark that gets user boosted in the algorithm . X does n’t actually verify the identity of citizenry who grease one’s palms a checkmark .
In late week , Musk has post screenshots of Community Notes that do n’t actually appear forall usersas a sneaky style to make it front like his opinion has been validate . Potential notes appear only to contributor and must be voted on to appear publicly for everyone . And the billionaire has n’t been get the fact - checks that suit his worldview , like in a late fight over 60 Minutes reporting on USAID .
It ’s interesting that Musk will now screenshot tweets he does n’t wish that include “ proposed ” community take down that back up his opinion . As you could see , the biotic community note does n’t actually show up for the modal user because not enough citizenry vote it unfeigned .
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— Matt Novak ( @paleofuture.bsky.social)February 16 , 2025 at 6:58 Prime Minister
Musk has also mess with the X algorithm in other direction , like when he rather infamously throw away a tantrum when a Super Bowl tweet of his received less attention than a like tweet from President Joe Biden back in 2023 . Biden ’s tweet received 23 million impressions while Musk ’s tweet engender just 9 million . And according to tech news show vent Platformer , Musk fly from the Super Bowl biz in Arizona to San Francisco that nighttime to come across with engineers and ensure this trouble was “ fixed . ”
AsPlatformerexplained at the time :
By Monday good afternoon , “ the problem ” had been “ bushel . ” Twitter deployed code to automatically “ greenlight ” all of Musk ’s tweet , have in mind his tweets will go around Twitter ’s filters designed to show people the good content possible . The algorithm now artificially supercharge Musk ’s tweets by a cistron of 1,000 – a constant score that ensured his tweets order higher than anyone else ’s in the feed .
Internally , this is called a “ power drug user multiplier , ” although it only apply to Elon Musk , we ’re told . The codification also allows Musk ’s account to get around Twitter heuristic program that would otherwise prevent a undivided account from flooding the core ranked provender , now know as “ For You . ”
That explains why people opening the app Monday regain that Musk dominated the feed , with a dozen or more Musk tweet and replies visible to anyone who followed him and million more who did not . Over 90 percent of Musk ’s follower now see his tweet , according to one internal estimate .
Many people seek to credit Musk with contrive Community Notes , but it actually launch in 2022 under the nameBirdwatch . Musk did n’t create the program , he just transfer the name .
It ’s no surprisal that Musk wants to tinker with X and the capacity mass see . He did that a lot in the lead - up to the 2024 presidential election and now acts as an factor of the government , destroying political program he does n’t wish in an oligarchic coup . The only surprisal might be that Musk did n’t shift the Community Notes platform sooner .
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