On X, more than 90 % of context notes, which must be used to combat disinformation, are never published

More than 90 % of the context notes proposed by users of the social network X are never published, according to a study made public on Wednesday, July 9, a figure which sows the doubt about the effectiveness of this method to combat disinformation on the Internet.

This estimate due to the NGO Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA), takes place against the backdrop of disinvestment of several social networks as to the means they devote to moderation and the verification of content (fact-checking).

On X, users can have proposed, below a publication, a comment, or Community Notes, a system for verifying participatory facts, below, to add context or report a factual error. It is then to other users, by a voting system, to say whether they consider this comment useful or not. If enough people vote in its favor, a note is published for all Internet users, visible below the original publication.

By studying 1.76 million of these notes offered between January 2021 and March 2025, the DDIA concluded that “The vast majority of notes submitted – more than 90 % – never reach the public”. “For a system promoted to fast, easy to extend and transparent, these figures should raise serious concerns”underlines the American NGO in its study.

“Temple of strangulation”

In 2023, 9.5 % of the notes submitted in English were published, against only 4.9 % at the beginning of 2025, according to the DDIA. However, the dynamics are opposite for notes in Spanish language (3.6 % in 2023, 7.1 % in 2025).

A large part of the notes that remain unpublished are due to lack of consensus during the voting phase, while others are never proposed to the vote, according to the study. The increase in the number of notes seems to cause a “Temple of strangulation” for their visibility, underlines the publication, believing that “Many notes remain lost in limbo, invisible and unrecovered” by others.

DDIA investigators have also shown that the largest provider of notes in English is not a human being, but a bot designed to report scams on cryptocurrencies, which submitted more than 43,000 notes between 2021 and March 2025. Only 3.1 % of its notes were published. However, the study has noted progress with regard to the time required for a note to be posted, from an average of more than a hundred days in 2022 to fourteen days in 2025.

These community notes had been launched by X under the direction of Linda Yaccarino, who resigned on Wednesday. His competitors Tiktok and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) also plan to adopt this system. This interest on the part of Meta comes after the Californian giant at the start of the year at his verification program of content published in the United States, that the group’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg, had assimilated to the « censure »resuming the terms of the Republican Party in power.

The volume of harmful content, including hateful, has increased since then on its platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, etc.) in the United States, according to a survey published in June by digital and human rights organizations, notably Ultraviolet, Glaad and All Out.

The European Union, which has equipped itself with a text aimed at stemming illegal content and disinformation on the Internet (the DSA), may soon have to decide on the precise obligations of social networks on this subject.