Twitter is among the top internet companies that took responsibility for curtailing misleading information in the wake of COVID-19. In a recent Tweet, the company announced that it is ‘further clarifying’ the rules that govern content removal.
In the new statement, Twitter aims at making users understand when it would take decisive action to remove Tweets and when it wouldn’t. The three major criteria that the platform looks out for are:
- Is the content advancing a claim of fact regarding COVID-19?
- Is the claim demonstrably false or misleading?
- Would belief in this information, as presented, lead to harm?
Realising that it is impossible to take action against all disputable COVID-19 Tweets, Twitter tries to narrow its policy. It mentions that it may place a label or warning on Tweets that may be less severe but still potentially confusing.
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We have seen examples of the above when the company had labeled Tweets from US President Donald Trump. Twitter had announced the new labels and warnings on 11th May 2020, saying:
“Starting today, we’re introducing new labels and warning messages that will provide additional context and information on some Tweets containing disputed or misleading information related to COVID-19.”
Another menace that people would like to see Twitter deal directly with is the issue of users posting Tweets with trending hashtags that have nothing to do with their posts. While the company encourages other users to report such Tweets, it does not seem enough.
Pending when Twitter rolls out a proper solution to these hashtag detractors, there are a few things you can do to avoid misleading information. One of them is by creating a Twitter List to curate the content that you see.
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