Twitter has begun testing a feature that allows users to flag tweets as misleading themselves, according to the company's social media account.
The option is currently available in the US, South Korea and Australia. In order to use it, you need to click on the “Report a tweet” button and select “This is misleading.”
“We assess how effective this approach is, so we start small. We cannot take action and respond to every report during the experiment, but your input will help us identify trends so that we can increase the speed and scope of our work to [detect] misinformation, ”reads a Twitter post.
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Twitter has stepped up its work to combat fakes. So, at the end of 2020, the social network announced that it would delete inaccurate information about vaccines against COVID-19. The company then called the spread of such misleading data “a serious and growing problem.” The ban includes messages that claim that the vaccine is harmful to a person or is used to control people, as well as posts containing refuted information about the side effects of drugs.
In March, Twitter reported that it had already deleted more than 8.4 thousand messages related to COVID-19, and also took action against 11.5 million accounts. For repeated violations of the rules, the company promised to block the account indefinitely.
Facebook has taken similar steps. At the beginning of the pandemic, the social network announced that it would remove misinformation about the coronavirus, including conspiracy theories that could harm people.
In early February, the company announced a new stage in the fight against disinformation, which includes the removal of inaccurate information about vaccines against COVID-19 and vaccinations in general. They promised to ban messages about the artificial origin of the coronavirus, the ineffectiveness of vaccines, claims that the disease is safer than a vaccine, and that the drugs are toxic and cause autism.
At the end of May, after consulting with experts, Facebook decided to no longer delete messages about the artificial origin of the coronavirus.
