TikTok is introducing “Footnotes,” a new community-driven feature that allows users to add contextual information to content on the platform. The feature has begun testing in the U.S. for short-form videos.

The system aims to provide additional context for content discussing complex topics, sharing potentially misleading statistics, or covering ongoing events. TikTok describes Footnotes as complementary to existing integrity measures, including content labels, search banners, and its fact-checking program.

U.S. users can apply to become Footnotes contributors if they meet specific requirements: six months of minimum platform tenure, 18 years or older, and no recent Community Guidelines violations. TikTok will proactively notify users who already meet these criteria, with contributor access rolling out over the coming months.

Image source: TikTok

Consensus-Driven Approach

Footnotes employs a “bridge-based ranking system” designed to find agreement between users with differing viewpoints. Contributors can both add footnotes to videos and rate those submitted by others. Only footnotes reaching a “helpful” threshold become visible to the broader community, who can then vote on them as well.

“The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes,” TikTok states in its announcement.

Industry Trend Toward Community Moderation

TikTok’s implementation follows similar features on other major platforms. The Verge notes that the approach, which began as Twitter’s “Birdwatch” in 2021, has recently spread to YouTube and Meta’s suite of applications, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

This shift toward community-based fact-checking comes amid broader industry changes in content moderation strategies. In January, Meta announced a significant reduction in third-party fact-checking partnerships in favor of community-driven systems, citing concerns about censorship and mistaken content removals.

TikTok emphasizes that Footnotes will complement its existing partnerships with more than 20 IFCN-accredited fact-checking organizations, which currently assess content accuracy across 60 languages in 130 markets worldwide.