It seems readily apparent to me, and so in the spirit of the Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman calling races on election night, let me just say:
"I've seen enough." Community Notes is the best media innovation in history.
For the uninitiated, since Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, "Community Notes" is the feature that permits users to tag intentionally omitted context onto another user's post. In other words, when a so-called "professional" journalist attempts to advance a narrative by intentionally spreading misinformation, they can now be rightfully humiliated by informed citizens who know better. It's got to be the single greatest development in the ability of the informed to use social media to police the information gatekeepers.
Here's what it looks like in real time. Disgraced economist and Nobel laureate (yes, seriously) Paul Krugman recently shared this upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy:
Notice the spectacular exceptions in this data: food, energy, shelter and transportation. In the realm of exceptions, I'd say those - pretty much every aspect of an economy that affects how people live - are as big as they get.
Now, before the days of Community Notes, here's what Krugman would do. He would quickly disable comments on his tweet, allowing it to be shared and circulated without anyone being able to correct the blatant deception. So-called sophisticates would ignore it, the intelligentsia would celebrate his "smart" assessment, mindless stooges and tribalists would claim "the data" is on their side, and compliant media would use his testimony as justification to report on the success of Bidenomics.
Thanks to Musk's new platform regime, those days are no more:
What a beautiful thing. Now, wherever Krugman's intentional deception is shared, the Community Notes tag is tattooed right there on it, embarrassing him and revealing his dishonesty.
Can you imagine how different the information landscape would be if every commentary on cable news, every headline from the New York Times, every Buzzfeed news alert could get the same treatment? Imagine if reporters actually had to fear being held accountable by the people they're reporting to.
Because keep in mind, it's not just tired, left-wing economists that are held to account. No, multi-billionaires like Jeff Bezos and his corporate propaganda operation can't escape the watchful eye of the "Community." For instance, here's a recent headline from Bezos' Washington Post:
If you want to see just how reckless and deceitful modern media has become, just compare that headline and summary with the actual facts of the situation:
It's despicable. Yet that's precisely the kind of grotesque mismanagement of the public trust that has become the business model of so many news organizations, which is why the Community Notes phenomenon is such a blessing:
Even notoriously irresponsible "fact-checkers" now get checked. Go back to that same Bezos propaganda firm and their hired honesty ombudsman, Glenn Kessler. Before Community Notes:
And after:
It's simply invaluable what Musk has brought to the free exchange of information. Not everything he's done is perfect, not everything his team comes up with is wise. But kneecapping the narrative writers, agenda setters, gaslighters, and template creators?
Priceless.
