TikTok is adding Footnotes, its take on Community Notes

As TikTok continues to attend for a deal that may safe its future in the US, the corporate is embracing a crowd-sourced method to fact-checking. The service is adding “Footnotes,” a Group Notes-like characteristic that may permit contributors so as to add “extra context” to movies on the platform.

“Footnotes affords a brand new alternative for folks to share their experience and add an extra layer of context to the dialogue utilizing a consensus-driven method,” TikTok’s head of operations and belief and security Adam Presser wrote in a weblog submit.

The replace, which has apparently been on the corporate’s roadmap since final yr, makes TikTok the newest platform so as to add a model of the crowd-sourced notes popularized by X. Nevertheless not like Meta, which not too long ago started publishing Group Notes on its apps, TikTok’s replace isn’t coming with a change to its moderation insurance policies or its fact-checking partnerships. As a substitute, the corporate describes the change as a manner for customers to “add useful particulars that could be lacking.” Footnotes gained’t have an effect on a video’s algorithmic rating or its skill to look on the “For You” web page.

Presser says that the corporate will use a “bridge-based rating system designed to search out settlement between individuals who normally have totally different opinions, impressed by the open-sourced system that different platforms use.” That’s clearly a reference to X, which created a rating system that requires contributors to charge one another’s notes earlier than they turn into publicly seen. Meta has adopted X’s Group Notes algorithm for its personal apps. However whereas TikTok’s method could also be impressed by X, the corporate plans to make use of its personal algorithm for Footnotes.

It’s not but clear precisely what Footnotes will appear to be on TikTok or how outstanding they are going to be. Like Group Notes on X, Footnotes are required to quote a supply, whether or not it is one other TikTok video or a third-party web site. 

The corporate is kicking off its experiment by permitting customers within the US to sign up to turn into contributors. Footnotes contributors have to be 18 or older with an account not less than 6 months outdated and with out a latest historical past of a Group Pointers violation. Over the following few months, contributors will have the ability to begin writing notes and ranking notes from others. It will likely be just a few months earlier than any Footnotes seem publicly within the US. The corporate hasn’t indicated when Footnotes could roll out globally.

The change comes at a time when TikTok’s future within the US remains to be considerably unsure. President Donald Trump not too long ago gave the corporate one other 75-day extension to strike a deal that may permit it to stay within the US. Studies point out that the White Home favors a deal involving TikTok’s existing US investors, although it’s unclear how Trump’s tariffs on China have affected the negotiations.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-is-adding-footnotes-its-take-on-community-notes-140040044.html?src=rss

Trending Merchandise

.