Twitter launches new tools to report covid misinformation

According to The Verge, Twitter announced on Tuesday that it will begin testing a new reporting function that will allow users to flag tweets that may contain false information.

Starting today, users will be able to report disinformation through the dropdown menu at the top right of every tweet, just as they may report abuse or other dangerous content.

Users must decide whether the misleading assertion is political, health-related, or belongs to another category.

More specific instances of misinformation, such as election-related content, are included in the politics category, according to The Verge article. Under the health category, users will be able to highlight Covid-19-specific falsehoods.

For the time being, users will not receive updates from the firm regarding what happens to false tweets they report, however this may change in the future.

On Tuesday, most users in the United States, Australia, and South Korea will be able to access the new feature. Twitter said it will perform this test for a few months before expanding it to additional markets.

The test is described as a “experiment,” rather than a fully functional feature, by Twitter. Twitter will monitor how users interact with the new disinformation reporting tool, according to a TechCrunch article, to see if it can be a useful tool for flagging potentially damaging misleading messages.

Earlier this year, the platform added the ability to flag fraudulent election-related tweets to aid in the protection of elections in Europe and India.

Twitter warned that not every report will be evaluated as the platform continues to test the tool. The data obtained during the test, on the other hand, will help the corporation decide how to expand the functionality in the coming weeks. The test might also be used to identify misleading information in tweets that have the potential to go viral.

While the ability to flag tweets as misleading is a new feature, it will feed reported tweets into Twitter’s existing enforcement mechanism, which uses a combination of human and algorithmic moderation to enforce Twitter’s stated standards on health and political disinformation.

Twitter warned that not every report will be examined while the site is still testing the feature. The data obtained during the test, on the other hand, will help the company figure out how to expand the functionality in the coming weeks. The technique might also be used to spot misleading information in tweets that have the potential to go viral.

While the option to flag tweets as misleading is new, it will feed reported tweets into Twitter’s current enforcement mechanism, which uses a combination of human and algorithmic moderation to enforce Twitter’s recognized standards on health and political disinformation.