Although there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Meta and X’s decision to axe their fact-checkers, Yaccarino was keen to start the discussion by highlighting the “Community Notes” feature on X, which allows users to leave notes on posts which they feel are misleading or require additional context.

Described as a “global collective consciousness”, these notes are meant to create a collective indicator of a post’s legitimacy, rather than being adjudicated by a team at X or an external 3rd party fact-checker. Additional, Yaccarino explained that once a post is “noted” it gets shared a lot less by the algorithm. As of writing, it is currently available in the US, so it will be interesting to observe how this works in practice.

Moving on to advertising, Yaccarino mentioned several innovations including Trend Genius and NFL Portal. Trend Genius is an AI-powered ad solution that allows marketers to tap into conversations about trending topics. As for the brand new NFL Portal, this aggregates content about American football including all rankings, statistics, video, and even conversations into one place.

Yaccarino was asked about whether this portal model could expand into other subject areas in future and she responded by saying “it’s safe to assume so”. She also briefly mentioned X Money as a transformative feature in 2025. This feature allows users to send and receive money, but also invest in various assets including crypto.

The discussion then proceeded to news and journalism, with Yaccarino stating that the future of news “is not legacy media”. She stated that to support journalistic curiosity, X’s revenue share program facilitates more control for users on how narratives are influenced. She described this as creating “two-way conversations” via protected free speech. 

Of course, being January 2025, the conversation couldn’t avoid discussing the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Trump and Elon Musk’s role in this new administration. Herridge asked about Musk’s role within the Department of Government Efficiency (aka. DOGE) will align with his role as the owner of X, with Yaccarino responding by saying “Elon is a visionary, and there is no better person that can set a vision and a course for others to be inspired and follow”.

She also encouraged Americans to “root for the success of DOGE”, stating that reducing government excess benefits everyone.

Yaccarino was keen to emphasise the ideas of free speech and authenticity on X and in the wider world of social media. She used the example of Musk sharing his thoughts very frequently on X, stating that “sharing more” is encouraged as it helps promote the idea of the aforementioned free speech. She then went back to the idea of X as a global town square, stating that the technology behind X has “liberated information”.

Why does any of this matter?

From what we can glean, regardless of anyone’s personal or political views on Musk and X, X Corp’s vision highlights the importance and potential of technology and how it helps to facilitate and change the way users connect and engage with information.

It’s absolutely certain that these revolutionary advancements will open up new possibilities for creativity, collaboration, and dissemination of knowledge and ideas. X Corp is redefining the media landscape and reshaping the future of digital communication.

Some Key Points from this Keynote:

• Community Notes: This feature allows users to leave “notes” on posts which they feel could be misleading or require additional context. The idea behind this is to help promote better behaviour and reduce the spread of misinformation. This replaces X’s previous fact-checking systems.
• Trend Genius: An AI-powered ad solution that aids marketers to tap into conversations about hot topics.
• NFL Portal: An example of X’s ability to aggregate content and discussions into one place, creating a virtual “town square” on any given topic.
• X Money: An upcoming feature for 2025 and is set to revolutionise how users make payments online.
• Elon Musk’s Role the discussion touched on Musk’s involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency and how this aligns with his role at X.