Continuing to refine the fact-checking service that began as Twitter’s Birdwatch, X has announced that users can now request Community Notes to clarify problematic posts on the platform. According to X’s Community Notes account, the feature is currently in a pilot phase on the web-based version and will soon be available on Android and iOS.
Eligible users can request fact-checking by clicking on the “⋮” menu on any X post, a feature detailed in X’s guidelines. If a post receives five or more requests within 24 hours, a Community Note will be added. Initially, only users with verified phone numbers can make up to five requests a day.
“The limit may increase if requests successfully result in helpful notes, or may decrease if requests are on posts that people don’t agree need a note,” X’s website noted. This system aims to prevent spam and ensure that contributors focus on posts that require factual clarification.
Once a post meets the request threshold, top contributors with diverse viewpoints will be alerted. Contributors’ status fluctuates based on the helpfulness of their notes, determined by community votes. For a note to be deemed helpful, it must contain accurate, high-quality information that broadens understanding of the subject matter, according to X’s standards.
While X collaborates with professional reviewers from the Associated Press and Reuters to assess accuracy, it monitors how often general X users agree with top contributors’ notes. X aims to ensure that useful notes are recognized across different perspectives.
During the pilot, half of the top contributors are allowed to both write and request notes, helping X assess the benefits of granting dual responsibilities. The criteria for requesting a note may evolve, striving for valuable and noise-free contributions.
As for the impact of Community Notes, the latest survey data from 2022—when the platform was still called Twitter—indicated that users were 20–40 percent less likely to agree with potentially misleading tweets and 15–35 percent less likely to engage with them after seeing Community Notes.