Latest news with #AdamPresser
Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
TikTok allows US users to debunk misinformation
TikTok on Wednesday rolled out a crowd-sourced debunking system in the United States, becoming the latest tech platform to adopt a community-driven approach to combating online misinformation, reported AFP. Footnotes, a feature that the popular video-sharing app began testing in April, allows vetted users to suggest written context for content that might be wrong or misleading - similar to Community Notes on Meta and X. "Footnotes draws on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content," Adam Presser, the platform's head of operations and trust and safety, said in a blog post. "Starting today, US users in the Footnotes pilot program can start to write and rate footnotes on short videos, and our US community will begin to see the ones rated as helpful - and rate them, too," he added. TikTok said nearly 80,000 US-based users, who have maintained an account for at least six months, have qualified as Footnotes contributors. The video-sharing app has some 170 million US users. TikTok said the feature will augment the platform's existing integrity measures such as labeling content that cannot be verified and partnering with fact-checking organisations, such as AFP, to assess the accuracy of posts on the platform. Just like X The crowd-sourced verification system was popularised by Elon Musk's platform X, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods. Earlier this month, a study found more than 90 per cent of X's Community Notes are never published, highlighting major limits in its efficacy. The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) study analysed the entire public dataset of 1.76 million notes published by X between January 2021 and March 2025. As with Footnotes on TikTok, X's community-driven moderation model allows volunteers to contribute notes that add context or corrections to posts. ??Other users then rate the proposed notes as "helpful" or "not helpful." If the notes get "helpful" ratings from enough users with diverse perspectives, they are published on X, appearing right below the challenged posts. "The vast majority of submitted notes — more than 90 per cent — never reach the public," DDIA's study said. "For a program marketed as fast, scalable, and transparent, these figures should raise serious concerns." A vast number of notes remain unpublished due to lack of consensus among users during rating. Thousands of notes also go unrated, possibly never seen and never assessed, according to the report. When it comes to TikTok, the platform cautioned it may take some time for a footnote to become public, as contributors get started and become more familiar with the feature. "The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes," Presser said. As with X, tech platforms increasingly view the community-driven model as an alternative to professional fact-checking. Earlier this year, Meta ended its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to "too much censorship." The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease President Donald Trump, whose conservative base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms serves to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content. Professional fact-checkers vehemently reject the claim. As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use "Community Notes." Studies have shown Community Notes can work to dispel some falsehoods, like vaccine misinformation, but researchers have long cautioned that it works best for topics where there is broad consensus. Some researchers have also cautioned that Community Notes users can be motivated to target political opponents by partisan beliefs.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
TikTok merges its Core Product and Trust & Safety teams
As TikTok's future in the U.S. remains uncertain, the company is merging its Core Product and Trust & Safety teams into a single organization, according to an internal memo sent to staff by TikTok CEO Zi Shou Chew and viewed by TechCrunch and confirmed by TikTok. 'This new team will allow us to better leverage our technical capabilities across both business and safety objectives, and will help us move faster as we develop the next generation of safety technology,' Chew wrote in the memo. As part of the changes, the memo said that TikTok's head of Operations and Trust & Safety, Adam Presser, will become the General Manager of TikTok USDS, a separate entity of TikTok that's tasked with safeguarding U.S. national security interests, TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch. Andy Bonillo, the current General Manager of TikTok USDS, who led the organization's creation and growth, will transition to a new role as Senior Advisor, reporting to Presser. The TikTok Operations teams will continue to report directly to Presser, while Sandeep Grover will become the new head of Global Trust & Safety. Meanwhile, Jenny Zi will become the leader for TikTok LIVE. The reorganization comes as President Trump extended the TikTok shutdown deadline for a third time last month. The current deadline is September 17. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week that TikTok will go dark in the country if China doesn't approve a deal for the sale of the app. Lutnick also stated that the U.S. must control the app's algorithm as part of the sale. Given the tense situation, which comes in the middle of a tariff war with China, it would not be surprising to see TikTok trying to beef up its USDS team as its U.S. deal hangs in the balance. 'For increased alignment across our robust trust and safety programs, the T&S Product team will now become part of the TikTok Product organization,' Chew wrote. 'We are creating a new Platform Responsibility team, which will be led by Adam Wang, reporting to Fiona Zhi. Adam has successfully led the launch and expansion of TikTok LIVE globally over the past four years.' 'I am confident that this reorganization will put us in an even stronger position to match the opportunities ahead of us,' the memo said. Sign in to access your portfolio
TechCrunch
13 hours ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
TikTok merges its Core Product and Trust & Safety teams
As TikTok's future in the U.S. remains uncertain, the company is merging its Core Product and Trust & Safety teams into a single organization, according to an internal memo sent to staff by TikTok CEO Zi Shou Chew and viewed by TechCrunch and confirmed by TikTok. 'This new team will allow us to better leverage our technical capabilities across both business and safety objectives, and will help us move faster as we develop the next generation of safety technology,' Chew wrote in the memo. As part of the changes, the memo said that TikTok's head of Operations and Trust & Safety, Adam Presser, will become the General Manager of TikTok USDS, a separate entity of TikTok that's tasked with safeguarding U.S. national security interests, TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch. Andy Bonillo, the current General Manager of TikTok USDS, who led the organization's creation and growth, will transition to a new role as Senior Advisor, reporting to Presser. The TikTok Operations teams will continue to report directly to Presser, while Sandeep Grover will become the new head of Global Trust & Safety. Meanwhile, Jenny Zi will become the leader for TikTok LIVE. The reorganization comes as President Trump extended the TikTok shutdown deadline for a third time last month. The current deadline is September 17. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week that TikTok will go dark in the country if China doesn't approve a deal for the sale of the app. Lutnick also stated that the U.S. must control the app's algorithm as part of the sale. Given the tense situation, which comes in the middle of a tariff war with China, it would not be surprising to see TikTok trying to beef up its USDS team as its U.S. deal hangs in the balance. 'For increased alignment across our robust trust and safety programs, the T&S Product team will now become part of the TikTok Product organization,' Chew wrote. 'We are creating a new Platform Responsibility team, which will be led by Adam Wang, reporting to Fiona Zhi. Adam has successfully led the launch and expansion of TikTok LIVE globally over the past four years.' 'I am confident that this reorganization will put us in an even stronger position to match the opportunities ahead of us,' the memo said.
New Straits Times
21 hours ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
TikTok launches crowd-sourced debunking tool in US
WASHINGTON: TikTok on Wednesday rolled out a crowd-sourced debunking system in the United States, becoming the latest tech platform to adopt a community-driven approach to combatting online misinformation. Footnotes, a feature that the popular video-sharing app began testing in April, allows vetted users to suggest written context for content that might be wrong or misleading – similar to Community Notes on Meta and X. "Footnotes draws on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content," Adam Presser, the platform's head of operations and trust and safety, said in a blog post. "Starting today, US users in the Footnotes pilot program can start to write and rate footnotes on short videos, and our US community will begin to see the ones rated as helpful – and rate them, too," he added. TikTok said nearly 80,000 US-based users, who have maintained an account for at least six months, have qualified as Footnotes contributors. The video-sharing app has some 170 million US users. TikTok said the feature will augment the platform's existing integrity measures such as labelling content that cannot be verified and partnering with fact-checking organisations, such as AFP, to assess the accuracy of posts on the platform. The crowd-sourced verification system was popularised by Elon Musk's platform X, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combatting falsehoods. Earlier this month, a study found more than 90 per cent of X's Community Notes are never published, highlighting major limits in efficacy. The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) study analysed the entire public dataset of 1.76 million notes published by X between January 2021 and March 2025. TikTok cautioned it may take some time for a footnote to become public, as contributors get started and become more familiar with the feature. "The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes," Presser said. Tech platforms increasingly view the community-driven model as an alternative to professional fact-checking. Earlier this year, Meta ended its third-party fact-checking programme in the United States, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to "too much censorship." The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease President Donald Trump, whose conservative base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms serves to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content. Professional fact-checkers vehemently reject the claim. As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use "Community Notes." Studies have shown Community Notes can work to dispel some falsehoods, like vaccine misinformation, but researchers have long cautioned that it works best for topics where there is broad consensus.
The Star
a day ago
- The Star
TikTok launches crowd-sourced debunking tool in US
TikTok cautioned it may take some time for a footnote to become public, as contributors get started and become more familiar with the feature. — REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo WASHINGTON: TikTok on Wednesday rolled out a crowd-sourced debunking system in the United States, becoming the latest tech platform to adopt a community-driven approach to combating online misinformation. Footnotes, a feature that the popular video-sharing app began testing in April, allows vetted users to suggest written context for content that might be wrong or misleading – similar to Community Notes on Meta and X. "Footnotes draws on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content," Adam Presser, the platform's head of operations and trust and safety, said in a blog post. "Starting today, US users in the Footnotes pilot program can start to write and rate footnotes on short videos, and our US community will begin to see the ones rated as helpful – and rate them, too," he added. TikTok said nearly 80,000 US-based users, who have maintained an account for at least six months, have qualified as Footnotes contributors. The video-sharing app has some 170 million US users. TikTok said the feature will augment the platform's existing integrity measures such as labelling content that cannot be verified and partnering with fact-checking organisations, such as AFP, to assess the accuracy of posts on the platform. The crowd-sourced verification system was popularised by Elon Musk's platform X, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods. Earlier this month, a study found more than 90 percent of X's Community Notes are never published, highlighting major limits in efficacy. The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) study analysed the entire public dataset of 1.76 million notes published by X between January 2021 and March 2025. TikTok cautioned it may take some time for a footnote to become public, as contributors get started and become more familiar with the feature. "The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes," Presser said. Tech platforms increasingly view the community-driven model as an alternative to professional fact-checking. Earlier this year, Meta ended its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to "too much censorship." The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease President Donald Trump, whose conservative base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms serves to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content. Professional fact-checkers vehemently reject the claim. As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use "Community Notes." Studies have shown Community Notes can work to dispel some falsehoods, like vaccine misinformation, but researchers have long cautioned that it works best for topics where there is broad consensus. Some researchers have also cautioned that Community Notes users can be motivated to target political opponents by partisan beliefs. – AFP
