The Community Notes feature on platform X is being used by users to challenge claims made in advertisements by major brands like Apple, Samsung, Uber, and others. This feature allows users to fact-check posts, and if a sufficient number of users upvote a note, it gets appended to the original post, providing additional context or counterarguments.
Apple, among other major brands, has faced critical Community Notes attached to its ads. For instance, in August, an Apple ad promoting the sustainability of the iPhone received a Community Note alleging that Apple intentionally slows down older phone models to encourage sales.
This note referenced a 2020 lawsuit related to the same issue that was settled for up to $500 million. However, this note later disappeared when the number of volunteers marking it as unhelpful crossed a certain internal threshold.
Platform X responded to this situation by raising the threshold for Community Notes to appear, requiring more users to mark a note as helpful before it gets appended to a post. This adjustment aims to ensure that Community Notes are not misused for personal biases or to target companies unfairly.
Also read: Brands Exit Twitter: The Musk-led Advertiser Exodus
Major brands like Apple and Samsung have had to navigate these challenges, which have contributed to their decision to either suspend or significantly reduce their advertising spending on the platform. It’s worth noting that Apple declined to comment on the issue.
This adds another layer of difficulty for platform X, which has already faced controversies and a loss of trust from major advertisers since Elon Musk took control and implemented significant changes to the platform, including changes related to content moderation and advertising policies.
