Fact checking: on X, more than 90% of context notes are never published, reveals a study

This estimate, published by the NGO Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) , comes against a backdrop of disinvestment by several social networks in their resources dedicated to content moderation and verification (fact-checking).

On X (formerly Twitter), users have been able to post a comment, or "community note," below a post for several years, to add context or point out a factual error. It's then up to other users, through a voting system, to say whether they consider the comment useful or not. If enough people vote in favor, a note is published for all users, visible below the original post.

"Serious concerns"

By studying 1.76 million of these notes submitted between January 2021 and March 2025, the DDIA concluded that "the vast majority of submitted notes—more than 90%—never reach the public." "For a system promoted as fast, easy to expand, and transparent, these figures should raise serious concerns," the American NGO emphasizes in its study.

In 2023, 9.5% of grades submitted in English were published, compared to only 4.9% at the beginning of 2025, according to the DDIA. However, the dynamic is reversed for grades in Spanish.

A large portion of the notes that remain unpublished are so due to a lack of consensus during the voting phase, while others are never even put to a vote, according to the study.

"Bottleneck"

The increase in the number of notes appears to be causing a "bottleneck" in their visibility, the publication points out, estimating that "many notes remain lost in limbo, invisible and unassessed" by others.

These "community notes," launched by X under the leadership of Linda Yaccarino, who resigned on Wednesday, are now being considered by competitors TikTok and Meta (Facebook and Instagram). This interest from Meta comes after the Californian giant ended its program earlier this year to verify content published in the United States, which the group's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, likened to "censorship," echoing the terms of the ruling Republican Party.