TikTok Launches “Footnotes” Feature in US

TikTok has rolled out a new feature called “Footnotes” in the United States for the first time, giving users the ability to add explanatory notes that provide context to videos.

The tool allows creators to clarify complex topics, such as breaking down scientific concepts, adding updated statistics to an ongoing news story, or even choosing whether comments appear alongside the video.

The move draws comparisons to community fact-checking tools already in use on other platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. X pioneered the concept in 2021 under the name “Birdwatch,” which continued after Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover.

Octavio Vinhas, a researcher at Brazil’s National Institute for Science and Technology in Conflicts and Information Sovereignty, said the initiative aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s more liberal vision of free expression on social media. However, he noted that TikTok’s Footnotes differ from X’s approach, as TikTok still prompts users to cite sources for their notes, something not required on X.

Scott Hale, associate professor at the Oxford Internet Institute, explained that the main challenge for all social media companies is ensuring that the right people see these notes. Platforms typically use similarity-based ranking systems, comparing what content a user receives with that of others, as well as accounts followed or videos watched.

The algorithm also exposes content to users deemed “different” from the note’s author to test its usefulness. Only notes passing this evaluation appear publicly.

But according to Vinhas, most notes never reach an audience. A June study by the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) found that over 90% of the 1.7 million English- and Spanish-language notes in X’s public database had never been published online. While the average time to publish notes dropped to 14 days in 2025, down from 100 days in 2022, delays still persist.

Hale added that discovering notes that challenge a user’s perspective remains difficult, given social media’s tendency to reinforce existing beliefs. “It’s very easy to lock ourselves into parts of networks that are similar to us,” he said.

One potential improvement, Hale suggested, would be making notes interactive, similar to Wikipedia’s model, where contributors have their own pages showcasing their edits.