Twitter announces strategy to combat election misinformation
The social media giant said it would bring back prebunks, updated labels
Twitter announced in a Thursday blog post that it is taking steps to combat misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
The social media giant said it would activate enforcement of the Civic Integrity Policy.
The policy covers harmful misleading information about elections and civic events, including false information about the election's outcome.
Tweets may be linked with credible information or helpful content, and users could see a prompt prior to liking or sharing labeled tweets.
The company noted that decreases in engagement with labeled tweets were noted.
In this photo illustration, the logo of Twitter can be seen on a smartphone on March 10, 2022, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In cases where there is potential for harm, the tweet may not be liked or shared.
Twitter said it would remain vigilant, looking for fake accounts.
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A Twitter logo is seen outside the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California, April 25, 2022. (Reuters/Carlos Barria / Reuters)
Other initiatives include "prebunks" that will "get ahead of misleading narratives," state-specific event hubs that are rolled out nationwide, a dedicated explore tab with national and local news as well as voter education public service announcements, candidate account labels on candidate tweets and profile pages, and improved recommendations.
"Earlier this year, in the US and Brazil, we tested ways to prevent misleading Tweets from being recommended through notifications. Early results show that impressions on misleading information dropped by 1.6 million per month, as a direct result of the experiment," Twitter wrote.
The logo for Twitter is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, June 1, 2022. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid / Reuters)
The tech company said it would apply additional proactive safeguards for the accounts of government officials, candidates and journalists, including increased login defenses, expedited account recovery support, and more "sophisticated" detections and alerts."
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As election day nears, Twitter wrote that it would continue to share real-time information about its strategy.
"Twitter plays a critical role in empowering democratic conversations, facilitating meaningful political debate, and providing information on civic participation – not only in the U.S., but around the world. People deserve to trust the election conversations and content they encounter on Twitter," it concluded.