X, formerly Twitter, might have its issues but its doing enough that other companies are nicking its ideas. YouTube is testing a Community Notes-like features for videos on the platform, another stunning example of Google’s continued brilliance in the field of online services.*
It’s not a done deal but the search giant is testing a feature that borrows heavily from X’s (mostly successful) Community Notes function. The United States is the initial rollout location, pending a successful test of the feature.
YouTube taking Notes
YouTube is at least starting small. A narrow subset of users and creators on the platform will gain the ability to add “relevant, timely, and easy-to-understand context” to videos on the platform. That’s better than turning the feature loose on the unwashed masses but there will also be some safeguards in place.
A third party will initially rate the usefulness of notes, which is a different system to the one used by X. It seems YouTube aims to automate the rating of notes and this initial run will be used to train the systems that will do so. Once that’s been completed (preparing the Gemini AI for a job as a moderator, it’s reasonable to assume), the feature will become more widely available.
At least initially, YouTube’s notes feature will be available on the mobile version of the video-sharing app in the States. Notes will be supported in English to begin with, which sounds like Google’s got plans to introduce the option to other markets once the Americans have been suitably Community Noted.
*If you clicked the link, you’d know how sarcastic this section is. Giving the folks behind one of the internet’s most toxic comments sections the ability to post community notes? What could possibly go wrong?
