Twitter will be Adding Labels and Warnings to Stop ‘Misleading Information’ About COVID-19

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Since the COVID-19 outbreak, social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and WhatsApp have become leading sources of misinformation about the disease. To counter this, Twitter has announced that it is expanding its efforts to combat the spreading misinformation about the COVID-19.

Twitter will be Adding Labels and Warnings to Stop ‘Misleading Information’ About COVID-19 1

Twitter Against COVID-19

Starting from yesterday, that is May 11, Twitter has introduced new labels and warnings to “provide additional context and information” on tweets with “disputed or misleading information” related to COVID-19. These labels will be having a link to provide the information related to COVID-19 by a twitter curated page or a “trusted source”.

The new labels will be applicable to the pre-existing tweets and future tweets related to COVID-19.

“During active conversations about disputed issues, it can be helpful to see additional context from trusted sources. Earlier this year, we introduced a new label for Tweets containing synthetic and manipulated media. Similar labels will now appear on Tweets containing potentially harmful, misleading information related to COVID-19. This will also apply to Tweets sent before today.”

So for this, the misleading content or tweet can be classified into three sections:

Misleading information — statements or assertions that have been confirmed to be false or misleading by subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities.
Disputed claims — statements or assertions in which the accuracy, truthfulness, or credibility of the claim is contested or unknown.
Unverified claims — information (which could be true or false) that is unconfirmed at the time it is shared.

Twitter will also be adding warnings to tweets. Twitter also said, “Depending on the propensity for harm and type of misleading information, warnings may also be applied to a Tweet. These warnings will inform people that the information in the Tweet conflicts with public health experts’ guidance before they view it.”

Read the complete blog from Twitter here.