Buterin said the "Birdwatch" tool is "not perfect," but it is "surprisingly close to satisfying the ideal of credible neutrality."
Recent comments by Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin shed light on X's (formerly Twitter) Community Notes feature, lauding its alignment with foundational "crypto values."
In a comprehensive critique published on his website on August 16th, Buterin illuminated how X's Community Notes tool, powered "entirely by an open source algorithm," encapsulated the essence of “crypto values” more than any other feature in the mainstream domain.
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To trace back, the feature, originally "Birdwatch," made its debut in the US in October 2022, following Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform. The intent was to grant users the authority to tag tweets as “helpful” and provide additional details.
However, Buterin’s views aren't without reservations. The Ethereum co-founder said the tool is “not perfect,” but lauded the algorithm's ability to approach the "ideal of credible neutrality," especially in divisive circumstances.
Diving deeper, Buterin admired the non-reliance of the tool on simple averaging of user scores. This nuanced algorithm gauged the user reception of a comment's utility and even detected stark political biases in content. Furthermore, the Ethereum co-founder credited the tool for providing invaluable context to potentially misleading story previews and debunking COVID-19 misconceptions.
Reflecting on the platform's distinction, Buterin elucidated:
I would say that the "theorycel aesthetic" side of crypto is necessary precisely to distinguish protocols that are actually trustless from janky constructions that look fine and seem to work well but under the hood require trusting a few centralized actors - or worse, actually end up being outright scams.
Interestingly, Buterin didn't shy away from suggesting that Musk could have potentially directed the team to omit particular Community Notes that clashed with his commercial interests, notably those critical of China's administration.
Yet, despite Buterin's critique and allegations of “extremely debatable actions” post-Musk's acquisition, the CEO of X deemed Buterin's assessment a “great analysis.”
As the crypto universe remains intrigued by the confluence of tech magnates and crypto paradigms, Vitalik Buterin's insights offer a new perspective on mainstream platforms mirroring core crypto values.
