Twitter Fights Misinformation With "Like" Warnings
Twitter appears to be pulling out all the stops when it comes to fighting misinformation on its social media platform. This week the social network added warnings for users liking posts labeled for misinformation. This adds another mental block between incorrect and otherwise misleading information and the people that'd otherwise be mislead.
Twitter is leading the way with meaningful actions against the worst parts of social networking. Twitter is fighting against those that'd weaponize social networks or otherwise accidentally push the masses in directions that'd harm the innocent. This is the sort of action that should've been in-effect since the beginning.
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
— Support (@Support) November 23, 2020
Per Twitter, "synthetic and manipulated media" is the enemy. The danger is misleading users, especially in vital circumstances, like elections for public office and living through our global pandemic re: COVID-19. These warnings should appear on all platforms, including desktop and mobile, iOS, Android, and the like.
Twitter took action earlier this year with prompts for misleading information and for users Tweeting or re-Tweeting articles they've not actually read. Twitter suggested that these prompts decreased Quote Tweets of misleading information by 29% (however they've managed to quantify that metric).
Now we'll look to other social networks to implement similar actions on all potentially misleading posts in the near future. This is the sort of attention that's needed on all major social networks to keep citizens conscious of what they read and share.
Take a peek at the timeline below for more information on what Twitter's done in the recent past to fight misinformation in posts and re-posts from users of all sorts. And let us know what you think of how Twitter's handling the situation. Should more be done? Or have they done enough already?