In a significant move, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, has declared that Twitter will no longer pay creators for tweets promoting misinformation. Musk described this as a “slight change” to the platform’s monetization program. Under this update, tweets that are fact-checked through community notes will no longer be eligible for payouts as part of Twitter’s revenue-sharing program.
This change appears to be a direct response to the growing concerns regarding high-profile accounts spreading viral misinformation on the platform. Musk’s stated goal is to shift the incentive structure in favor of accuracy rather than sensationalism. In alignment with this, Twitter has recently introduced a requirement for community notes contributors to cite their sources during fact checks.
This development comes at a time when researchers, fact-checkers, and journalists have raised alarms about the proliferation of viral misinformation on Twitter, especially in the context of the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. European Union officials have initiated an investigation into Twitter’s handling of misinformation related to the conflict.
It’s worth noting that since Musk’s takeover of Twitter about a year ago, the platform has eliminated teams responsible for curating and promoting reputable tweets related to breaking news. Furthermore, tools for reporting misinformation within the app have been removed. Instead, Twitter has relied on its crowd-sourced fact-checking tool, community notes.
However, critics have pointed out that community notes can be manipulated, and user-contributed fact checks often struggle to keep up with the sheer volume of viral falsehoods, particularly when promoted by verified accounts. A recent analysis by NewsGuard, a nonprofit organization that monitors misinformation, revealed that 74 percent of the most viral posts related to the Israel-Hamas War were being pushed by ‘verified’ Twitter accounts.
The decision to make tweets with community notes ineligible for payments has faced criticism from several high-profile accounts whose tweets are frequently “community noted.” Elon Musk has reassured that any attempts to manipulate @CommunityNotes to demonetize individuals will be readily evident. However, the company has not provided details on how it plans to address such manipulation attempts. Twitter has not responded to requests for comment regarding this update.
