- The Ethereum co-founder gave his opinion on the Community Notes feature of the X social network.
- In his opinion, it is the closest tool to the kind of content evaluation that decentralized platforms should have.
Ethereum project co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his opinion on the Community Notes feature of X (formerly Twitter).
Not only does he find it useful, but he also states that the tool embodies the values of the cryptocurrency industry.
A little bit about the tool itself
Remember, this feature was first announced in 2021. Back then it was called Birdwatch.
In November 2022, after the social network was purchased by billionaire Ilon Musk, it was renamed Community Notes.
In May 2023, amid a wave of fake images, the administration added the ability to authenticate images. Only users with a rating above 10 could leave a note.
The feature allows you to add a note to a post if it misrepresents facts or is untrue.
Buterin’s Opinion
“What interests me most about Community Notes is that this feature, while not a cryptocurrency project, may be the closest thing to embodying the values of the industry,” he stressed.
Buterin highlighted the fact that the notes are not moderated by a centralized group of select experts.
Anyone can compile them, and whether they are shown is determined by the open-source algorithm, as the information on the X website confirms.
“This system is far from perfect neutrality, but it is useful,” Buterin said.
The specifics of the Community Notes algorithm, according to the expert, is to evaluate content.
The mechanism tries to highlight those notes that have received positive reactions “from different perspectives,” he noted.
In his article, Buterin scrutinizes the user’s note selection scheme. From his words, the algorithm is not without certain shortcomings, but it successfully manages to “sift” the content.
In particular, the system does not show different options for evaluating notes. However, it’s the closest thing we have to a tool for verifying data and preventing centralized manipulation of information, according to an expert.
X after Musk
Community Notes is one of the many changes to how the social network operates after the change in ownership.
In June 2023, we covered a report by the firm Fidelity Investments assessing the market value of Twitter (now X). According to analysts, it has declined more than 60 percent since the deal.
The new owner shared his vision for the platform. Musk believes the X should be “an app for everything,” including financial interactions.
Musk says the X should be an “app for everything,” including financial interactions.