{"id":57,"date":"2026-04-20T02:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T02:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2026-04-20T02:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T02:47:47","slug":"fighting-misinformation-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Misinformation Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Breakdown of YouTube and Twitter\/X<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some platform companies are trying to decrease or even eradicate misinformation from their platforms. Join me while I explore Twitter\/X, a social media platform that I regularly use and YouTube the popular video site that seems to have my children captivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today most social media platforms are fighting a war between free speech and preventing harm. While many of them have made progress, the reality is that misinformation spreads fast and is nearly impossible to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter\/X – “Freedom of Speech not Reach<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter\/X focuses on limiting how far misinformation can spread versus removing content.\u00a0 Because of X\u2019s policy regarding \u201cfreedom of speech, not freedom of reach\u201d, posts can typically remain on the platform but, visibility may be reduced or downranked if it\u2019s considered misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the ways that X\/Twitter combats misinformation is through Community Notes<\/a>.\u00a0 Community Notes a are collaborative, community-driven notes from contributors that add context, fact-checks or clarification to posts.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Are X \/ Twitter Community Notes And How Do They Fight Disinformation?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While community notes have not dispelled all instances of misinformation, they have reduced the number of times misinformation is reposted, led to more content being deleted by the original poster once the post receives a community note and users perceive community notes as trustworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another way that X protects users against misinformation is through its policy framework<\/a> by limiting the spread, rather than removing content outright. Under its approach of \u201cfreedom of speech, not freedom of reach,\u201d posts that may be misleading can be downranked, which means they are less likely to show up in people\u2019s feeds or in search results. \u00a0This helps reduce how quickly misinformation spreads and how far it can reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X\u2019s terms of service and policies outline what is allowed and how content is handled, focusing more on user responsibility and platform transparency.  The \u201cX Rules\u201d don\u2019t necessarily stop misinformation but they target misinformation when it falls into specific harmful categories, like misleading or deceptive identities<\/a> or synthetic or manipulated media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Twitter\/X can take action against accounts that repeatedly share harmful or misleading information.  X limits their reach by temporarily restricting features or even suspending accounts for more serious infractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Twitter\/X\u2019s framework works to give users more information and slow the spread of misinformation, while still allowing open conversation and freedom of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube – A Top-down Approach<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube takes a different approach when it comes to handling misinformation.  YouTube is more on the side of platform control versus freedom of speech.  On the flip side from X, YouTube will actually remove content that violates its policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, YouTube started using a community notes-like feature to combat misinformation similar to what Twitter\/X uses.\u00a0 Like X, users on YouTube can write notes on videos that they find are inaccurate or unclear.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Write notes on videos – YouTube Help<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube has a more top-down system where the company plays the primary role in deciding what stays and what goes.\u00a0 According to YouTube\u2019s policies, the platform takes a more direct approach by removing content that is deemed misleading or harmful.\u00a0 This includes videos that are doctored, false claims tied to major issues or old video footage being passed off as something new.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Misinformation policies – YouTube Help<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube also works to limit the spread of misinformation by adjusting what shows up in recommendations and search results. On top of that, it uses strikes and can remove channels for repeat offenders. However, content that might violate policy may get an exception if it falls under EDSA (Educational, Documentary, Scientific, or Artistic)<\/a> because it\u2019s intended to inform or explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube feels more controlled. From my perspective as a dad with kids who are watching clips and reels all the time, I feel like YouTube does a few things right. The dangerous stuff usually doesn\u2019t stick around long, and when you search for something, the results tend to be pretty reliable. \u00a0My 4-year-old can search \u201cCaleb Monster Truck<\/a>\u201d and nothing weird pops up.\u00a0 It also feels harder for false information to take over. \u00a0But YouTube is not perfect. \u00a0A lot of context gets lost in short clips. Some misleading content doesn\u2019t get removed at all, it just sits there, and the EDSA exception can be a gray area where questionable stuff stays up. I\u2019ve seen clips get shared that aren\u2019t technically fake but are still misleading because they don\u2019t share the whole picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of this is the viral soccer clip that made it look like Chelsea\u2019s Conor Gallagher ignored a young fan<\/a>.\u00a0 The video spread quickly and got people fired up.\u00a0 Eventually the full interaction was shared, which told a different story.\u00a0 The clip wasn\u2019t fake and it didn\u2019t break any rules, but it lacked context and painted a picture that wasn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bottom Line: It’s Not Just the Platforms <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Twitter\/X and YouTube are trying to solve the problem of misinformation. They are going about it in different ways. X tends to keep content up and try to slow its spread, while YouTube is more hands on in controlling what users see by removing content. X can feel too reactive because misinformation spreads quickly and only after does a correction come. YouTube still allows misleading content if it doesn\u2019t clearly break the rules but, it still feels more controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misinformation isn\u2019t just a platform problem, it exists everywhere. Information (misinformation) moves quickly and is slow to be corrected. Policies don\u2019t capture everything and with so much usage, it\u2019s impossible for these platforms to keep up. As a society who consumes massive amounts of social media we need to work on slowing down and asking questions. We cannot take everything at face value. Simply checking a source or looking for context can make a huge difference in how misinformation spreads. It\u2019s up to us as the consumer to develop healthy habits online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Breakdown of YouTube and Twitter\/X Some platform companies are trying to decrease or even eradicate misinformation from their platforms. Join me while I explore Twitter\/X, a social media platform that I regularly use and YouTube the popular video site that seems to have my children captivated. Today most social media platforms are fighting a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/804chawks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}