X introduces Lightning Notes as a faster way to curb misinformation

When X shifted its creator pay system from ad-based to engagement-based, many worried it would encourage rage-bait and misleading content to boost engagement numbers.

Although X hasn't announced a direct plan to tackle this issue, it has revealed plans to enhance its misinformation-fighting tool—community notes—by speeding up the time it takes for these notes to become visible.

Normally, community notes are written by contributors who provide anonymous assessments of potentially misleading or incorrect posts. Then, other contributors can rate these notes as helpful or not. Once they've deemed it helpful, the community note goes public, helping other users on the app get some context behind a post and avoid being misled.

The problem with this, however, is that it is a slow system, often taking a considerable amount of time before notes are posted, meaning by the time it's out, many people have already been fed false information. Even Bloomberg reports that it operates inefficiently, especially with highly controversial topics.

To address this, Elon has introduced "Lightning Notes", a system that operates just like Community Notes, but faster. This new system aims to make community notes visible within minutes of a post, possibly as quickly as 20 minutes. This way, context can be attached to posts before they go viral, getting most potential viewers to see them.

While the exact mechanics are still unclear, X says the lightning symbol will appear next to a community note that goes live in under 60 minutes, which is likely what inspired the name, Lightning Note. This will showcase the efforts of X's over 800,000 global contributors.

Given the widespread issue of misinformation on social media, it's about time X took steps to enhance its platform. The problem affects several other platforms too.

For example, Instagram's Threads app has faced similar challenges. Although the company has announced plans to mitigate the issue, it hasn't specified how it will do so. In contrast, platforms like Bluesky have sidestepped this issue by not incentivizing rage-bait posts or content created purely for engagement.

X's new approach could help reduce toxicity on the app and, in the long run, attract more users to the platform at a time when X needs it. The platform is reportedly worth just a fraction of what it was when Elon bought it so efforts like this could go a long way in restoring its old glory.