X is now an open source news platform, says Musk

Betting big on making X Corp a trusted news platform, Elon Musk on Saturday, 21 October said that the platform is an “open source news” and whatever is relevant in legacy media is already available on X.

Reacting to a follower who said that if false info spreads on X, users have the opportunity to combat it with their own posts and through Community Notes.

"When fake news spreads on CNN, MSNBC, or in The New York Times or Washington Post, they get the final say and can double down on their false narrative," the X user posted.

Musk said "yes," adding that X is an open source news platform.

"That is the right way to think about it. Anything relevant in legacy media is reposted here anyway," he added.

However, some users questioned Musk's comment on making X a trusted news platform. "There's also a lot of info you can't trust as well. Community notes help, but sometimes they don't show up fast enough," a user posted.

"In reality it's a platform of misinformation with American institutions in its crosshairs," another commented.

Musk last month encouraged people to do citizen journalism on X. "Please encourage more citizen journalism! You can do live video easily from your phone. More on-the-ground reporting from regular citizens will change the world," he said.

Amid the call to shun legacy media, X has stopped showing headlines to news articles shared on the platform, allowing only the main image and the web domain name the image is linked to.

In August, Musk invited journalists to publish directly on X (formerly Twitter) and earn a higher income.