TikTok has launched Footnotes, a crowdsourced fact-checking system, in a pilot program for U.S. users, mirroring features like X’s and Meta’s Community Notes. This system allows contributors to write and rate notes on TikTok videos to provide additional context and combat misinformation.

All U.S. TikTok users can view Footnotes deemed helpful by the community and contribute by submitting their own ratings.

The Footnotes system employs a bridging algorithm to identify consensus among users with diverse perspectives. Notes rated as helpful by opposing viewpoints are considered more credible, a method designed to prevent biased voting or brigading.

Footnotes aim to clarify content by adding context, addressing both intentional misrepresentations and unintentional omissions by video posters.

TikTok emphasizes that Footnotes will complement, not replace, its Global Fact-checking Program, which collaborates with over 20 IFCN-accredited fact-checking organizations across 60 languages and 130 markets worldwide.

TikTok first revealed its intent to test Footnotes in April, aiming to equip its community with tools to better understand the content they encounter on the platform.

Since April, nearly 80,000 U.S. users who are over 18, have been on TikTok for at least six months, and have a clean record regarding Community Standards have qualified as contributors.

Then Twitter introduced the feature called Birdwatch in 2020, which became Community Notes after global expansion in 2022. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, X has further developed this system, incorporating AI-generated notes and new applications for highlighting popular content.

The open-source model of X’s Community Notes has influenced other platforms, particularly as some companies aim to address conservative concerns about bias in traditional left-leaning fact-checking systems.

Meta, for instance, shifted away from conventional fact-checking this year to adopt a Community Notes-style system in the U.S. YouTube also introduced a similar feature called Notes last year.

In 2023, Tea, a dating discussion app designed to provide women a safe space to share feedback on men they date, launched and quickly gained traction, particularly in the U.S., where it soared to the top of the Apple App Store rankings.

The app's popularity among mostly left-wing women, stemmed from its promise to empower women by helping them identify red flags in potential partners, resonating widely on social media.

However, its rapid rise was marred by a significant setback this year, when a massive data breach on July 25, exposed sensitive user information, including photo IDs, selfies, and comments, due to an unsecured legacy storage system.

Just days after the initial breach, which involved approximately 72,000 images, a second, more severe breach came to light, further eroding trust in the app. This breach exposed over 1 million private direct messages, revealing deeply personal conversations among women, including discussions about infidelity and abortion.

The exposure turned Tea, an app meant to protect women, into a privacy nightmare, undermining its core mission and leaving users vulnerable.

An independent researcher reportedly uncovered additional details, revealing the extent of the sensitive data accessed, which included intimate user conversations, according to 404 Media.

Tea’s response to the crisis attempted to downplay the second breach, with the company claiming it was part of the initial incident rather than a new breach. In a statement, Tea acknowledged that some direct messages were accessed but maintained that no evidence suggested broader system compromise. The company also announced it had taken the affected system offline as a precautionary measure, though skepticism persisted about the accuracy of their claims.

The company’s assertion that the exposed messages were tied to the original breach has been met with doubt, as the scale of the exposed data—particularly the private messages—appears far greater than initially reported.

Critics argue that Tea’s attempt to frame the incidents as a single event may be an effort to minimize public backlash and scrutiny. The discrepancy between the company’s narrative and the reported scope of the breaches has fueled distrust among users.

For an app built on the premise of creating a safe space for women, the breaches represent a profound betrayal of trust. Users who inexplicably thought that such an app is a good idea, and relied on Tea to discuss personal experiences and identify problematic behavior in dating now face the risk of their private conversations being exposed.

The scandal has damaged Tea’s already tarnished reputation. The app has been roundly mocked online as haven for "angry and ugly women" and slammed for encouraging potential defamation and toxicity in relationships.

Anthony Aguilar, a retired U.S. special forces veteran, recounted a harrowing incident in which a Palestinian child named Amir was shot dead by Israeli forces at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in May.

Aguilar described how Amir, a 5-year-old boy who had walked 12 kilometers barefoot to receive aid, thanked him for the food he received before being shot by Israel Defense Forces(IDF) soldiers.

“On May 28, at secure distribution site #2, this young boy, Amir, walks over to me, reaches out & kisses my hand," Aguilar recalled. "This boy is not wearing shoes. His clothes are falling off of him because he is so skinny….He doesn’t have a box, he has half a bag of rice, lentils, and he was thanking us.

"He walked 12 kilometers to get there … and when he got there he thanked us for the crumbs he got … and he set them on the ground and his frail, skeletal, emaciated hands, and he kissed me and said 'thank you.'

"And then he collected his items, walked back to the group, and then he was shot at with pepper spray, and tear gas, and stunt grenades, and bullets, and he was shot at, at his feet and in the air, and he runs away...and the IDF were shooting at the crowd … they are shooting … and they are shooting into this crowd and Palestinians, civilians, human beings, are dropping to the ground, and Amir was one of them... Amir walked 12 kilometers to get food, got nothing but scraps, thanked us for it, and died."

GHF is backed by Israel as an alternative to United Nations groups in providing aid to Gaza. The organization has faced criticisms because of IDF's indiscriminate shooting into crowds, which they claim is a crowd-control measure.