The social platform X will pilot a feature that allows AI chatbots to generate Community Notes.

Community Notes is a Twitter-era feature that Elon Musk has expanded under his ownership of the service, now called X. Users who are part of this fact-checking program can contribute comments that add context to certain posts, which are then checked by other users before they appear attached to a post. A Community Note may appear, for example, on a post of an AI-generated video that is not clear about its synthetic origins, or as an addendum to a misleading post from a politician.

Notes become public when they achieve consensus between groups that have historically disagreed on past ratings.

Community Notes have been successful enough on X to inspire Meta, TikTok, and YouTube to pursue similar initiatives — Meta eliminated its third-party fact-checking programs altogether in exchange for this low-cost, community-sourced labor.

But it remains to be seen if the use of AI chatbots as fact-checkers will prove helpful or harmful.

These AI notes can be generated using X’s Grok or by using other AI tools and connecting them to X via an API. Any note that an AI submits will be treated the same as a note submitted by a person, which means that it will go through the same vetting process to encourage accuracy.

The use of AI in fact-checking seems dubious, given how common it is for AIs to hallucinate, or make up context that is not based in reality.

According to a paper published this week by researchers working on X Community Notes, it is recommended that humans and LLMs work in tandem. Human feedback can enhance AI note generation through reinforcement learning, with human note raters remaining as a final check before notes are published.

“The goal is not to create an AI assistant that tells users what to think, but to build an ecosystem that empowers humans to think more critically and understand the world better,” the paper says. “LLMs and humans can work together in a virtuous loop.”

Even with human checks, there is still a risk to relying too heavily on AI, especially since users will be able to embed LLMs from third parties. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example, recently experienced issues with a model being overly sycophantic. If an LLM prioritizes “helpfulness” over accurately completing a fact-check, then the AI-generated comments may end up being flat out inaccurate.

There’s also concern that human raters will be overloaded by the amount of AI-generated comments, lowering their motivation to adequately complete this volunteer work.

Users shouldn’t expect to see AI-generated Community Notes yet — X plans to test these AI contributions for a few weeks before rolling them out more broadly if they’re successful.

The main Reuters news account, as well as the Reuters World account, became inaccessible to X users in India on Saturday evening. Access was subsequently restored on Sunday.

Reuters reports that Indian users attempting to view the @Reuters account — which has 25 million followers — instead saw a message stating that the account “has been withheld in IN (India) in response to a legal demand.”

However, an Indian government spokesperson told TechCrunch, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.”

A Reuters spokesperson said the news agency is “working with X to resolve this matter.” Reuters also says its social media team previously received a notification from X in May stating that the company was withholding content at the Indian government’s request, though the notification did not specify which agency made the request or which content was being targeted.

The social media platform (which recently merged with another Elon Musk company, xAI) has criticized the Indian government over demands that it block certain accounts and posts.

It even sued the government in March, claiming that a new website allows “unrestrained censorship of information in India” by unlawfully enabling “countless” public officials to take down content or block accounts. The government said the website only allowed it to notify companies about harmful online content.

Last year, X also engaged in a protracted battle with Brazil’s Supreme Court, which saw the service shut down operations in the country, then get banned for more than a month.

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X did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. Reuters did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s additional questions about its communication with the Indian government and X.

The post has been updated to reflect that the Reuters accounts have been restored. Additional reporting by Jagmeet Singh.

Nepal has ordered internet service providers to block access to major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, after the companies failed to comply with local registration rules — drawing criticism from media rights groups and raising concerns over censorship and free expression.

On Thursday, Nepal’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology directed the Nepal Telecommunications Authority to instruct internet service providers to restrict access to 26 social media platforms altogether. The move followed a meeting of ministry officials earlier in the day.

Nepal has an internet penetration rate of over 90%, according to data from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority. Among social media users in the country, 87% use Facebook, followed by 6% on X and 5% on YouTube, the latest figures from web analytics firm Statcounter suggest.

The list of affected platforms includes Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WeChat, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube, and X. The decision follows an August 25 directive that gave foreign social media companies just seven days to register their operations in Nepal and assign a local contact person.

Media advocacy groups and civil society organizations have criticized the move. The decision would “seriously hinder journalists’ work and people’s access to news and information,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit. The Federation of Nepali Journalists also condemned the measure, saying it “undermines press freedom and citizens’ right to information.”

Thursday’s decision comes weeks after Nepal’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s local registration requirement last month, ruling that it was aimed at curbing misinformation. However, the court did not explicitly order the government to ban platforms that failed to register, instead directing officials to “make appropriate legal arrangements immediately, within the framework of the law.”

Notably, TikTok and Russia’s Viber are among the social media apps not affected by the latest order; the government said these platforms have already followed the rules and registered themselves in the country.

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“It is extremely troubling that Nepal has chosen to block access to entire social media and web services simply because they have not registered with the government,” said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pacific Policy director and Global Cybersecurity lead at Access Now. He compared the approach to “the architecture of censorship seen in the People’s Republic of China’s Great Firewall model of digital authoritarianism — a path wholly at odds with Nepal’s democratic aspirations and constitutional guarantees.”

Communication and Information Technology Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung told reporters that the government had given platforms ample time to register in Nepal and had made repeated requests, including to Meta, but they did not comply.

Meta, as well as Google and Snap, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Access to the platforms would be restored once they register in the country, according to a public notice (PDF) issued by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

Chima argued that “Nepal should publish all blocking orders, restore access, and shift to a legislative process that narrows vague prohibitions and builds in due process, transparency and meaningful consultation.”

He added that without clear appeal or independent oversight, the directive gives the government “sweeping powers to suspend services, order removals, and deputise local ‘grievance’ and ‘self-regulation’ officers inside companies.”

“That invites over-blocking and pressure on companies to take down lawful content,” he continued.

Earlier this year, Nepal’s government faced public backlash over a proposed social media bill that is still pending approval. The legislation includes provisions for imprisonment and fines for posts “deemed against national sovereignty or interest.” The proposal “threatens to severely undermine press freedom and digital expression,” the International Federation of Journalists said.

Responding to early criticism of the proposed legislation, Minister Gurung said the government had “no intention of curtailing freedom of expression.”

However, the bill would also authorize the government to order social media platforms to remove certain posts, with noncompliance potentially resulting in fines.

A spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology did not respond to a request for comment about the blocking decision.

YouTube is rolling out new AI-powered features to help users find content and information more easily, the company announced on Thursday. The platform is launching an AI-powered search results carousel similar to Google’s AI Overviews and is also testing conversational AI with more users.

The new AI-powered search results carousel, available only to YouTube Premium users in the United States, will suggest videos and display brief AI-generated topic descriptions to help users find what they’re looking for faster.

YouTube says the AI-powered search results carousel will appear in searches related to shopping, places, or things to do at a specific place. For example, if you search for something like “best beaches in Hawaii,” you’ll see an AI-generated carousel highlighting clips from videos showcasing the best snorkel spots and volcanic beaches, alongside descriptions and more videos to help you plan your vacation.

Image Credits:YouTube

The new feature is pretty similar to Google’s AI Overviews, the tool that provides AI-generated summaries of search results at the top of the Google Search results page. While the AI-powered search results carousel will ease discovery for users, it could be an unwelcome change for creators, as they rely on engagement to earn revenue on the platform.

For instance, if a person is able to get the information they need directly from the AI-powered search results carousel, they may not click into the video.

The launch of the AI-powered search results carousel comes two weeks after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that Google’s AI Overviews and other AI-powered tools are devastating traffic for news publishers. YouTube creators may be concerned that the new carousel feature could reduce engagement with their videos, just like how AI Overviews on Google Search have led to fewer referrals to news sites.

As for YouTube’s conversational AI tool, the Google-owned platform announced that it’s making it available to some non-Premium users. First launched in late 2023, the conversational tool uses AI to help users get more information, content recommendations, and summaries of videos. It can also be used to quiz yourself on key concepts in academic videos.

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Image Credits:YouTube

At launch, YouTube explained that the tool’s responses are generated by large language models that draw on information from YouTube and the web. The responses are designed to help viewers dive deeper into the content they’re watching.

For example, if you’re watching a roller skate dance tutorial, the conversational AI tool will ask if you want it to “summarize the video” or “recommend related content.” You can also ask your own questions, like “What’s the song in this video?” and the tool will provide details such as the song title, artist, genre, and more.

After a wave of mass bans affecting Instagram and Facebook users alike, Meta users are now complaining that Facebook Groups are also being impacted by mass suspensions. According to individual complaints and organized efforts on sites like Reddit to share information, the bans have affected thousands of groups both in the U.S. and abroad and have spanned various categories.

When reached for comment, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the company was aware of the issue and was working to correct it.

“We’re aware of a technical error that impacted some Facebook Groups. We’re fixing things now,” he told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.

The reason for the mass bans is not yet known, though many suspect that faulty AI-based moderation could be to blame.

Based on information shared by affected users, many of the suspended Facebook groups aren’t the type that would regularly face moderation concerns, as they focus on fairly innocuous content like savings tips or deals, parenting support, groups for dog or cat owners, gaming groups, Pokémon groups, groups for mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, and more.

Facebook Group admins report receiving vague violation notices related to things like “terrorism-related” content or nudity, which they claim their groups haven’t posted.

While some of the impacted groups are smaller in size, many are large, with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of users.

Those who have organized to share tips about the problem are advising others not to appeal their group’s ban, but rather to wait a few days to see if the suspension is automatically reversed when the bug is fixed.

Currently, Reddit’s Facebook community (r/facebook) is filled with posts from group admins and users who are angry about the recent purge. Some report that all the groups they run have been removed at once. Some are incredulous about the supposed violations — like a group for bird photos with just under a million users getting flagged for nudity.

Others claim that their groups were already well moderated against spam — like a family-friendly Pokémon group with nearly 200,000 members, which received a violation notice that their title referenced “dangerous organizations,” or an interior design group that served millions, which received the same violation.

At least some Facebook Group admins who pay for Meta’s Verified subscription, which includes priority customer support, have been able to get help. Others, however, report that their groups have been suspended or fully deleted.

It’s unclear whether the problem is related to the recent wave of bans impacting Meta users as individuals, but this seems to be a growing problem across social networks.

In addition to Facebook and Instagram, social networks like Pinterest and Tumblr have also faced complaints about mass suspensions in recent weeks, leading users to suspect that AI-automated moderation efforts are to blame.

Pinterest at least admitted to its mistake, saying the mass bans were due to an internal error, but it denied that AI was the issue. Tumblr said its issues were tied to tests of a new content filtering system but did not clarify whether that system involved AI.

When asked last week about the Instagram bans, Meta declined to comment. Users are now circulating a petition that has garnered more than 12,380 signatures so far, asking Meta to address the problem. Others, including those whose businesses were affected, are pursuing legal action.

Meta has still not shared what’s causing the issue with either individual accounts or groups.