Twitter has announced a new misinformation policy for its users, warning them before they retweet or comment on any content that has been flagged as fake news or misleading.
The company says that the new feature comes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 United States election, which also saw the network add labels to Donald Trump’s posts when he shared misleading or inaccurate information. From today, users will now be alerted when they try to share a tweet that has been labeled as incorrect information.
Speaking in a blog post, Twitter says that it wants to reduce the amount of false news shared on the network on sensitive concerns like the election, COVID-19, and other topics.
Giving context on why a labeled Tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital.
These prompts helped decrease Quote Tweets of misleading information by 29% so we're expanding them to show when you tap to like a labeled Tweet. pic.twitter.com/WTK164nMfZ
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 23, 2020
“Giving context on why a labeled Tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19 and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital,” the company said in a statement. “These prompts helped decrease Quote Tweets of misleading information by 29% so we’re expanding them to show when you tap to like a labeled Tweet.”
When you try to retweet a post that has been considered misleading or incorrect, Twitter will ask users whether they really want to share the content and offer some guidance on sources that provide more accurate and credible information instead.
Users should find the feature on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Web, with an update coming to Twitter for Android in the weeks ahead. Are you pleased with the news? Let us know and check back soon for more news and updates on social networks, every week, right here.
