Twitter is no longer rewarding folks who are spreading misinformation on the platform. Musky Musk stated that they are making a “slight change” to how its monetization program works. If a tweet that is fact-checked by community notes, the user will not be able to get paid through revenue sharing.
It seems like this is Twitter’s latest attempt to discourage high profile users from spreading misinformation.
The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism.”
Elon Musk
Along with this change, Twitter is now requiring sources when the community fact checks tweets.
This all may be related to the fact a whole host of researchers, fact checkers, and even journalists have spoken up about the alarming rate of misinformation on Twitter. It is especially rampant during the humanitarian crisis happening in Gaza. It has gotten so bad, the European Union has opened an investigation on Twitter’s handling of misinformation related to the occupation.
Perhaps Twitter wouldn’t be in this bad of a predicament, though. It was one year ago that Musk had laid off majority of the company. This included the moderation teams that would have kept most of this in check. Other teams that were laid off were handling news curation and promoting reputable sources of information. But like every great capitalist, why pay for labor when you can get it for free. Musk opted to use the community notes tool to keep facts straight.
People have already raised oppositions to this move. It was pointed out that the system could be used maliciously. Users could flag tweets they don’t like and cause the loss of revenue. Musk stated that it would be “immediately obvious” if someone tried to weaponize the tool.
Source: Engadget
