Questioning world leaders over a jailed American earned Elon Musk his own Community Notes tag and subsequent pushback on “state actors” gaming the fact-checking system.
With shy of 166 million followers on his social media platform, X, Musk’s reach and the amplification potential on any post remained undeniable. Following a reaction from the billionaire to a Tucker Carlson video about imprisoned American citizen Gonzalo Lira, as well as to the videographer himself, Community Notes challenged the assertions surrounding the man’s arrest in Ukraine.
“What is the status of this American journalist @JoeBiden?” Musk captioned a post from Lira made at the end of July regarding the man’s stated effort to seek political asylum in Hungary. While the prisoner’s post was noted with the Ukrainian Criminal Code the man was alleged to have violated, Musk was refuted by assertions Lira was “not a journalist but a videoblogger” responsible for “pro-Russian political commentary” and that he had been “arrested in Ukraine for wartime propaganda including massacre denial, and providing info on Ukrainian troops and journalists to Russians.”
What is the status of this American journalist @JoeBiden? https://t.co/KBPCxU0Roa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
Musk appeared rather pleased with the response as he referred to it as a trap for “state actors” and thus easier for his team to weed them out.
“Interesting. This note is being gamed by state actors. Will be helpful in figuring who they are. Thanks for jumping in the honey pot, guys lmao!” the tech entrepreneur posted, which also received a Community Notes tag that read, “There are criteria that Community Notes contributors must meet to be approved which are supposed to prevent manipulation.”
That note linked to the sign-up page to become a Community Notes contributor and the rules that accompanied participation.
Interesting. This Note is being gamed by state actors. Will be helpful in figuring who they are.
Thanks for jumping in the honey pot, guys lmao!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
As had been previously reported, Musk had responded to Carlson’s report on Lira and directly tagged President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in seeking clarification on any wrong that may have been committed that the United States government would ignore.
“An American citizen is in prison [in] Ukraine after we sent over…$100 billion? Is there more to this story than simply criticizing Zelensky? If that’s all it is, then we have serious problem here,” he asserted.
After calling out the “honey pot,” a concerned user questioned the integrity of Community Notes and asked, “So you’re saying that the Community Notes can be manipulated and used as a weapon?!”
To that, the billionaire responded, “No system is perfect. Perfection would be an absurd and foolish standard. What matters is how often a system is wrong and how quickly it improves. State actors have a lot of resources, so obviously require more effort to resist.”
No system is perfect. Perfection would be an absurd and foolish standard.
What matters is how often a system is wrong and how quickly it improves.
State actors have a lot of resources, so obviously require more effort to resist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
Entrepreneur David Sacks added his voice in defense of Community Notes referring to it as “generally an excellent system” being gamed by the “Ukrainian info war op.” He added that the rating system of Community Notes allowed for poor claims to be cleared away over time and Musk responded positively, “The higher the credibility of any truth assessment system, the greater the incentive to break it. Nobody cares about breaking something with no credibility.”
The higher the credibility of any truth assessment system, the greater the incentive to break it.
Nobody cares about breaking something with no credibility.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2023
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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