Twitter cracks down on misleading coronavirus info
Social media company rolling out new warning messages amid COVID-19 pandemic
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Twitter is looking to clear up misinformation surrounding the coronavirus.
The social media giant announced in a statement that it is rolling out new labels and warning messages amid the COVID-19 pandemic that it says will offer additional information on tweets with potentially harmful or misleading content.
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“In serving the public conversation, our goal is to make it easy to find credible information and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content,” the note read.
TWITTER ADDS 'MANIPULATED MEDIA' LABEL TO JIMMY KIMMEL'S VIDEO OF MIKE PENCE
Last month, the company expanded its policies to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative health sources. It said the new labels could be used to provide clarifications in situations where people may still be confused or misled by the content.
The labels will also link to a Twitter-curated page or external trusted source with more information related to claims in a given tweet. In some cases, users might see warnings before they view a tweet, informing them that the information conflicts with public guidance.
TWITTER WILL WARN YOU IF YOUR TWEET REPLY MIGHT BE OFFENSIVE
Twitter will specifically seek out statements or assertions that have been confirmed to be false or misleading; those in which accuracy or credibility is contested or unknown; and information that is unconfirmed at the time it is shared.
Sign outside of the Twitter office building in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu.)
“Our teams are using and improving on internal systems to proactively monitor content related to COVID-19,” the company said. “These systems help ensure we’re not amplifying Tweets with these warnings or labels and detecting the high-visibility content quickly.”
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Twitter last week added a "manipulated media" label to a video of Vice President Mike Pence that appears to show him delivering empty boxes of personal protective equipment to a hospital.
"This Tweet was labeled based on our Synthetic and Manipulated Media policy," a Twitter spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement, linking to a tweet of the clip that went viral with nearly 100,000 retweeted and more than 260,000 likes.
Twitter shares have increased by 9 percent in the last month.