TWITTER has announced a new policy for dealing with misinformation during a period of crisis.
As part of the new policy, it has also established new standards for gatekeeping or blocking the promotion of certain tweets capable of spreading misinformation.
This was disclosed by Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, Yoel Ruth, in a blog post explaining the new policy.
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Under the new policy, Twitter will add warning labels to debunk false claims about crises and users will not be able to like, forward, or respond to the posts that violate the new rules.
Tweets with content that violate the crisis misinformation policy will be placed behind a warning notice that looks like this:
Some of the tweets that could end up with a warning notice include those that falsely report on events, include false allegations involving weapons or use of force, or spread broader misinformation regarding atrocities or international responses.
Twitter said it will require verification from multiple credible and publicly available sources to determine what is misinformation and what is not.
“Content moderation is more than just leaving up or taking down content, and we’ve expanded the range of actions we may take to ensure they’re proportionate to the severity of the potential harm.
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“We’ve found that not amplifying or recommending certain content, adding context through labels, and in severe cases, disabling engagement with the Tweets, are effective ways to mitigate harm, while still preserving speech and records of critical global events,” the statement read.
The platform said it would start with tweets and information concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it will expand it to include situations of armed conflict, health emergencies, and large-scale natural disasters.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
