The Making of Community Notes—Asterisk

This Asterisk interview with the team behind X's Community Notes describes how the system was designed and why it uses a bridging algorithm. Keith Coleman, VP of product at X, says the idea began around the end of 2019, when trust and safety teams and fact-checkers were too slow and too small in number, and many people distrusted tech or media companies deciding what was misleading. Early prototypes showing specific, sourced notes from the community tested well across the political spectrum, including on Covid and other polarizing topics. Jay Baxter explains that the bridging algorithm surfaces notes that users who have disagreed in the past both rate as helpful, without using any explicit political axis.