Weeks before India's national elections, Elon Musk's company
The company posted that the first group of contributors from India will start publishing notes today and more will be accepted over time. Contributors usually post more context in posts to debunk a myth or add more information to improve context. These submissions are then scored based on their usefulness and accuracy and displayed to users.
Musk renamed the old Birdwatch project to Community Notes when he took over the company in 2022. In December 2022, the social network rolled out the ability for people to see community notes related to posts globally, but users from only a few countries can post those notes.
Over time, the company allowed members from different countries to begin posting community feedback to better provide local context. With the latest release, the program has contributors in 69 countries.
Last year, the company also provided community feedback for photos and videos.
India was a major missing market for this feature due to the size of the market. With the national election just a few weeks away, platforms are making efforts to curb election-related misinformation. However, X has not made any specific announcement about its efforts in the Indian elections.
At times, Community Feedback was unable to control the spread of misinformation even though contributors added context to the post. The program will face a tough test in India's complex, multilingual political landscape.
Last year, the company re-allowed political ads on the platform, which had been banned by the previous administration.
Twitter/X has had a difficult stay in the Indian market, particularly due to its legal battle against the government for ordering the platform to block certain posts. Earlier this year, X blocked some accounts and posts related to the farmer protests in India due to orders from the authorities. At the time, the company reiterated that a judicial appeal challenging the ban orders was still pending in the courts.
Last year, Musk said in a conversation with the BBC that India's social media rules were very strict and that the company “cannot bypass the country's laws.”
