Note

May 11, 20 - 5:43 pm - LABS

Twitter updates labels to fight misleading information

Twitter introduced this Monday new labels and warning messages on some tweets with harmful misleading information regarding COVID-19. According to the company, the new feature will make it easy to find credible information on the platform and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content. It’s part of guidelines that the company has been implementing to fight fake news.

In March, the tech has broadened its policy guidance to address content that goes directly against on COVID-19 advices, which even resulted in tweets from authorities that were deleted. The new labels will work like this, according to Twitter:

  • These labels will link to a Twitter-curated page or external trusted source containing additional information on the claims made within the Tweet;
  • Depending on the propensity for harm and type of misleading information, warnings may also be applied to a Tweet. These warnings will inform people that the information in the Tweet conflicts with public health experts’ guidance before they view it;
  • While false or misleading content can take many different forms, Twitter will take action based on three broad categories: Misleading information; disputed claims, unverified claims.
Photo: Twitter/ Courtesy