YouTube is Taking a page from X (Twitter) and adds community notes is a feature ahead of the 2024 US election. The company wants viewer-generated bulletins to add relevant context to videos, such as pointing out misinformation or old footage passed off as new.
Notes will initially be available as a pilot program to a “limited number of eligible contributors” who will receive an invitation via email or Creative Studio. Invited participants must have an active YouTube account in good standing.
In the pilot phase, “third-party evaluators” will evaluate the usefulness of the notes to help train the system. YouTube says it wants to roll out recordings gradually to test and refine the feature before making it more widely available. Look no further Often toxic video comments on YouTube to see why this is necessary.
Once the feature is calibrated and widely available, you’ll see them under videos “if they’re found to be widely useful.” Viewers will be asked to rate the notes as “helpful”, “somewhat helpful” or “not helpful” and to explain why (eg they cite good sources or are clearly written).
Note ratings will be determined by a bridge-based algorithm that looks for connections between different groups. For example, if people who value things historically differently agree that a particular record is useful, it will be more visible. It seems the system can still be abused, especially considering how many online tribes today share an unwavering belief in the same debunked misinformation. But hey, we’ll reserve judgment until we see it in action.
This feature is very similar to the one originally launched during Twitter’s Jack Dorsey era expanded globally After Elon Musk buys the company in 2022. At the time, Musk described the feature as “a game changer for increasing accuracy on Twitter.” X, as it is known today, is not known for its accuracybut YouTube apparently saw something worth copying in a crowded context.
As for when you’ll see Community Notes, YouTube says the pilot will be available on mobile first in the US. The company anticipates errors in this testing phase while tweaking its algorithms. Anyone in the US can expect the records to appear “in the coming weeks and months.”
