Instead of X (formerly Twitter) deciding what is true or false on user timelines, we can collectively provide context that others find useful. Community Notes on X is a crowd-based fact-checking system designed to add helpful context to posts that may be misleading, incomplete, or require clarification.
- +EXPLAINER: How to add Community Notes on X posts
- +What Community Notes actually does
- +Step 1: Check if you are eligible
- +Step 2: Sign up as a contributor
- +Requesting a Community Note on a post
- +When requests become visible to contributors
X stated on its feature’s website that, “Community Notes is a collaborative way to keep people better informed.
X stated on its feature’s website that, “Community Notes is a collaborative way to keep people better informed. Contributors are people like you.”
What Community Notes actually does
Community Notes is not driven by majority opinion or platform moderation. Instead, it highlights notes that are considered helpful by people with different viewpoints.
As X explains, “Community Notes identifies notes that are found helpful by and for people with different points of view.”
Step 1: Check if you are eligible
Before you can join, X may prompt you with a message like:
To qualify as a Community Notes contributor, your account must be updated and meet the following conditions:
Step 2: Sign up as a contributor
Once eligible, users can sign up freely. X explains,”Sign ups are open to everyone. We want anyone to be able to participate and know that having contributors with different points of view is essential.”
After joining, all new contributors start by rating notes, over time, users who consistently contribute helpful ratings may gain the ability to write notes.
This gradual system ensures quality control before users can publish their own context.
Requesting a Community Note on a post
Even if you are not a contributor, you can still request a note. To do this, tap the three-dot menu (•••) on a post, and “Request Community Note”
To request a note, your account must also have a verified phone number, and users can make up to 5 requests per day initially, although this limit may change based on how useful the requests are.
X explains that request limits help prevent spam and encourage meaningful submissions.
When requests become visible to contributors
Transparency and participation All Community Notes contributions are public and visible on the platform. X states,” To promote transparency, all contributions to Community Notes are anonymised and publicly visible on the Community Notes site.”
Users can also report notes they believe are misleading or inappropriate.
The system is built on the idea of collective judgment rather than platform control. Instead of X deciding what is true, users collectively determine what context is useful.
In simple terms, Community Notes works because different users review the same post, Notes are only shown if people across viewpoints find them helpful, and the system prioritises usefulness over popularity
