Elon Musk’s X Sees Sharp Decline in Use of Fact-Checking Tools Amid Criticism
SAN FRANCISCO — A new study has revealed a significant drop in user engagement with X’s flagship fact-checking features, Community Notes and Grok, raising fresh questions about the platform’s ability to combat misinformation under owner Elon Musk.
According to data from July 2025, more than 90% of proposed Community Notes — user-generated contextual labels intended to correct misleading posts — never get published. The report, cited by NBC News, also shows that the creation of new notes halved between January and May 2025, suggesting waning user participation despite Musk’s frequent promotion of the tools.
The AI-powered Grok, designed to provide real-time fact-checking, has also faced mounting criticism. Users and researchers have repeatedly pointed out instances of bias, inaccuracy, and delayed responses, undermining confidence in its reliability.
Musk has consistently framed X as a platform for “open discourse,” where the crowd-sourced Community Notes system allows “the people to decide the narrative.” In a post responding to the report, he reiterated that “Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions,” and emphasized that its data and code are open source.
Yet the decline in usage tells a different story. Critics argue that the system is increasingly vulnerable to coordinated campaigns and ideological manipulation, leaving major disinformation risks unaddressed. Supporters, however, contend that the tools remain a transparent alternative to traditional top-down content moderation.
The findings arrive amid broader concerns about the spread of false information on X, especially ahead of major elections in the U.S. and elsewhere. As engagement with these corrective tools falters, analysts say the platform’s core challenge remains unresolved: balancing free speech with factual integrity in an intensely polarized digital environment.
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