Elon Musk said that corrections to posts on X would no longer be eligible for payment as the social network comes under mounting criticism.
Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFPwould no longer be eligible for payment as the social network comes under mounting criticism as becoming a conduit for misinformation., now rebranded as X, Musk has gutted content moderation, restored accounts of previously banned extremists, and allowed users to purchase account verification, helping them profit from viral – but often inaccurate – posts.
A recent study by the disinformation monitoring group NewsGuard found that verified, paying subscribers were the big spreaders of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war.“Nearly three-fourths of the most viral posts on X advancing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War are being pushed by ‘verified’ X accounts,” the group said.
It said the 250 most-engaged posts that promoted one of 10 prominent false or unsubstantiated narratives related to the war were viewed by more than 100 million times globally in just one week. NewsGuard said 186 of those posts were made from verified accounts and only 79 had been fact-checked by Community Notes.“For less than the cost of a movie ticket, they have gained the added credibility associated with the once-prestigious blue checkmark and enabling them to reach a larger audience on the platform,” it said.
While the organisation said it found misinformation spreading widely on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram, it added that it found false narratives about the Israel-Hamas war tend to go viral on X before spreading elsewhere.