Like many apps that have come before it, Twitter has often been a hotbed for fake news and misinformation. Because nearly everyone is welcome to post whatever they please onto the site, there really isn’t a lot that one can do to stop someone from spreading false information onto the social platform. This is very frustrating to some people because the point of social media is to spread info to the people that require it, and misleading Tweets kinda defeat the purpose of the whole thing.
However, Twitter, like most other social media platforms, tries to do its very best to meet the needs of its users by adding new features whenever possible. That’s why the platform has recently announced that it is adding a new reporting system that will cut down on all of the “misleading” Tweets that can be seen by Twitter users.
ShutterstockEver since the COVID-19 vaccine became available for most Americans to use, some unsolicited Tweets (mostly those made by those who are anti-vaccine) have made its way onto the Internet, spouting information about the vaccine that was, of course, untrue. Twitter wanted to create a new system that would be able to weed out any sort of misleading information that could unknowingly harm others.
Also, while the feature is still new and liable for any sort of reworking that it might require, it is imprtantr to take note that the new feature isn’t some sort of permanent solution to stopping fake news. There are bound a few missteps here and there, and there’s no guarantee that the system is going to work perfectly everytime.
“We may not take action on and cannot respond to every report in the experiment, but your input will help us identify trends so that we can improve the speed and scale of our broader misinformation work.” Twitter had said about the whole project at hand.
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Of course, juse because Twitter’s system might not be a perfect solution just yet, it doesn’t mean that the company isn’t trying its hardest to crack down on misleading Tweets. Another thing that Twitter is currently working on is a community forum known as “Birdwatch” (a quite humorous pun, considering the mascot of Twitter is, in fact, a bird). This new forum allows for users to flag any sort of misleading Tweet, as well as add context to said Tweets in prder to spread the correct info to those who require it.
The bottom line is, misinformation can really hurt people in ways that can be unexpected. By believing the false info that people choose to spread out, people can end up passing the wrong sort of judgement when regarding certain topics, and not only could this cause feelings to get hurt, it could also cause irreversable damage if people aren’t careful. If you see someone spreading flase info, don’t be afraid to correct them in a polite matter, and also don’t be afraid to spread the truth yourself if you have to. A lot of people will thank you for it.