Weeks earlier than the nationwide elections in India, Elon Musk-owned X mentioned it’s rolling out help for posting Group Notes — the corporate’s crowd-sourced fact-checking program — in the important thing abroad market.
The primary set of contributors from India will begin posting notes from at the moment and extra will probably be accepted over time, X mentioned. The contributors usually present extra context to standard posts to debunk any delusion or provide broader insights. These submissions are then rated by customers on components such because the helpfulness they supply or the accuracy.
In December 2022, the social community enabled the flexibility for individuals to take a look at Group Notes associated to posts globally, however customers from only some international locations may put up such notes.
Over time, the corporate has allowed members from completely different international locations to start out posting Group Notes to offer native context higher. With the most recent rollout, this system has contributors in 69 international locations.
Final yr, the corporate additionally launched Group Notes, beforehand referred to as Birdwatch, for photos and movies.
India was one of many final main markets the place Group Notes had not beforehand expanded. With nationwide elections only a few weeks away, many platforms are making efforts to fight potential election-related misinformation. Nonetheless, X hasn’t made any particular announcement about its efforts for Indian elections.
Although Group Notes is proving useful in fact-checking posts on X, it has at occasions struggled to regulate the unfold of misinformation regardless of contributors including context to tales. This system might also face a tricky check in India’s advanced multilingual political panorama.
Final yr, the corporate reallowed political advertisements on the platform, which had been banned by the earlier administration.
Twitter/X has had a tricky keep within the Indian market notably for its authorized battle towards the federal government for ordering the platform to dam sure posts. Earlier this yr, X withheld some accounts and posts associated to farmers’ protests in India due to orders from authorities. At the moment, the corporate reiterated {that a} writ enchantment difficult blocking orders was nonetheless pending within the courts.
Final yr, Musk mentioned in a dialog with BBC that India’s social media guidelines are fairly strict and the corporate “can’t transcend the legal guidelines of the nation.”