TikTok has announced a crowdsourced fact‑checking tool called Footnotes. This is their version of ‘communuty notes‘. Details come from a newsroom post by Adam Presser, who runs the firm’s trust and safety team, and a Business Insider report that compared TikTok’s plan with changes at Meta and X.
What Is TikTok’s Footnotes Test?
TikTok wants viewers to add extra context under short videos rather than wait for official labels. Footnotes lets approved users attach short written notes that explain figures, give scientific background or link to primary documents. The idea grew from frequent questions in comment threads when creators cover science, breaking stories or false claims.
Only American users who are at least 18, have stayed on the app for 6 months and have a clean record may apply. They will write notes and rate notes written by peers, building a reputation system that tries to surface the most helpful explanations first.
TikTok already runs election hubs, marks clips it cannot verify and works with more than 20 International Fact‑Checking Network partners in 60 languages. Footnotes adds a peer‑to‑peer tool on top of that machinery, giving viewers another route to differentiate truth from rumour.
How Does The System Decide Which Notes Stay Up?
TikTok borrowed an open source scoring model first released by engineers at what is now X. The goal is to reward entries judged helpful by users who often disagree, rather than those liked only by people with the same view.
Contributors can tag a note to any eligible clip. Fellow contributors vote on clarity and accuracy; if a note crosses a set threshold, it becomes visible to everyone, and the whole audience can then upvote or downvote it.
Meta and X took a different road earlier this year after trimming many paid moderators. Both firms turned to community flagging, removing thousands of staff posts that once checked every upload before publication.
That decision drew fire from advertisers and Democratic law‑makers. Representative Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez accused Mark Zuckerberg of “kissing Trump’s ass,” while ad buyers told Business Insider they feared their logos could land beside unchecked content.
Could Footnotes Calm Fears Over Misinformation And A US Sell‑Off?
Washington still wonders whether TikTok’s Chinese parent should sell its American arm. The latest deadline, pushed back twice, runs through the summer, and Footnotes arrives while the app’s standing in the United States hangs in mid‑air.
During a 2023 hearing, chief executive Shou Zi Chew admitted that user data once flowed to engineers in China. He told lawmakers the firm was now ring‑fencing information from 150 million Americans.
TikTok says it will keep paying more than 20 IFCN partners. Those organisations scan uploads in over 20 languages, and their verdict can trigger labels, visibility limits or outright removal.
Presser made an argument that crowdsourced context will let viewers hear from ordinary users who spot missing data. Campaigners for safer social media, though, doubt that volunteers alone can keep pace with false claims, especially during election seasons when misleading clips spread fast.
For now the test runs only on short clips in the States. TikTok plans to widen access “over the coming months” after it reviews feedback on note quality and voting fairness. If the trial strengthens confidence among legal experts and advertisers, it may also help the company hold on to its biggest market outside Asia.
