As of today, for the first time, Twitter, Inc. is allowing users to report misinformation. They are adding on an option so that you can inform the company when someone is tweeting out false or misleading content. Much like when you report a tweet as “spam” or “abuse,” the company will be alerted.
Don’t get your hopes up.
We’ll give you the bad news first. Despite this exciting proclamation, it’s important to keep the following things in mind. Number one – this is a test they are running. An experiment. This has not been permanently implemented. The test will run with a pool of Twitter users in the United States, South Korea, and Australia. Number two – although they will be alerted of misinformation, Twitter will not do fact-checking on their end. This is not the purpose of this feature in their eyes. “Instead, Twitter will use the reports as a way to study misinformation on the platform and identify trends or problem-areas to focus on,” according to Bloomberg. The legitimacy of individual tweets is not something Twitter will be looking into. In short, despite you reporting a tweet to Twitter claiming “misinformation”, that tweet is still there to stay.
The good news.
If this test is a success and deemed an “effective approach,” then Twitter will implement it as a permanent solution. The company intends to utilize the data from the experiment to, “improve the speed and scale of our broader misinformation work,” Twitter claimed in a recent tweet regarding the matter. Twitter, among other social networks, has recently come under a lot of pressure to improve its handling of false claims, specifically regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. This experiment seems to be a prompt, direct response to combat the issue.
In fact, according to TheVerge.com, Twitter’s “health category will also include an option for users to flag COVID-19-specific misinformation.” Although individual tweets may not suffer consequences, the White House is applying pressure to all platforms, including Twitter, to outline, “clear consequences for accounts that repeatedly violate the platform’s rules,” according to a published report by The US Surgeon General’s Office (The White House). So, although this gesture may seem small, it’s well-noted. As the pressure mounts, there is a chance Twitter may begin to tighten the bolts pertaining to this new misinformation test/experiment. This may reduce the amount of misinformation plastered across their platform.
How to utilize the new feature.
In order to report misinformation, users may click on the three gray dots on the right side of a tweet. From there, select the option to “Report a Tweet.” After that, for those in the test group, an option will appear to report the tweet as misleading.
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