[ad_1]
Twitter now warns users when they attempt to like a disputed tweet as part of its efforts to combat disinformation.
The move means that users who try to like disputed posts from Donald trump about the US election will receive an additional prompt asking them to “help keep Twitter a place for reliable information.”
Twitter said it was “vital” for the company to give additional context on why the tagged tweets were misleading, whether those tweets were about the U.S. election or COVID-19.
Currently, users cannot retweet a post that has been tagged to include the disputed posts, although they can quote those posts, requiring them to provide additional context.
When prompts were previously displayed to quote users from tweets, they reduced the spread of misleading information by 29% depending on the platform, which is why the feature is added to likes as well.
The move follows a scientific study that found Mr. Trump’s prolific tweet masks a strategic use of Twitter to distract the media from covering topics that are potentially harmful to them.
In the years since the last election in 2016, social media platforms faced a barrage of allegations that their incompetence or apathy helped undermine the integrity of the electoral process by allowing disinformation to emerge. reach millions of voters.
Similar questions have been raised about whether the platforms are doing enough to tackle conspiracies related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the most significant challenge facing social media platforms in recent weeks has not come from foreign actors, but from the incumbent president himself, who has alleged electoral fraud and disputed the outcome of the US election. – and its national supporters who amplified its messages.
Professor Jennifer Grygiel, a social media specialist at Syracuse University, said: “Twitter can’t really enforce policies if they don’t do it before it happens, in the president’s case.
“When a tweet comes to the wire, essentially it goes public. It already brings all of this impact force of market reaction.”
While the time it takes for Twitter to apply a tag can still vary, as these are acts of human moderation, the friction the prompt will add to people liking a potentially misinformed tweet can prevent these messages from spreading further. .
[ad_2]
Source link