Elon Musk has pledged to “fix” X’s fact-checking tool following the release of polling contradicting United States President Donald Trump’s claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is deeply unpopular in his country.
Rowing in behind Trump’s attacks on Zelenskyy on Thursday, Musk claimed that his social media platform’s “community notes” feature was being “gamed” by governments and traditional media.
“If Zelensky was actually loved by the people of Ukraine, he would hold an election.
Lucas Graves, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches misinformation and disinformation, described Musk’s comments as “extremely concerning”.
X is now relying on it too much, and it is ironic that leadership is now complaining that it isn’t working well.”.
Since taking control of X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022, Musk has been heavily criticised for allowing, and in some cases promoting, misinformation on the platform.
“I think Musk wants to reform community notes because he doesn’t like being corrected, as is typical for authoritarian oligarchs. »
