Social-Media
Twitter battles election uncertainty by urging users to quote tweets instead of retweets.
Twitter battles election uncertainty by urging users to quote tweets instead of retweets.
The Website is seeking to avoid disinformation about the US election on November 3rd.
On Friday, Twitter revealed a series of temporary changes aimed at postponing violations during the November 3rd US presidential election. Tweets that contain early claims of victory will be branded, tweets intended to encourage interference in the election or election results will be deleted, and tweets from political figures with more than 100,000 followers — including President Trump — who are deemed "misleaders" will be more difficult to access.
Twitter has a vital role to play in preserving the legitimacy of the election discourse and we urge candidates, campaigns, news outlets and voters to use Twitter in a respectful manner and to understand our mutual duty to the electorate to ensure a stable, equitable and legitimate democratic process this November, said Twitter's blog post, Legal, Policy and Confidence and Trust.
Temporary adjustments would place a brake on how most people will use Twitter. Starting today, users will be encouraged to "add their own tweets" before retweeting, instead of moving them to the quota tweet choice. Users who want not to quote a tweet can still retweet, but the company says it adds "extra friction and extra phase" in the hope that it will "increase the probability that people can add their own opinions, reactions and insights to the discussion."
Twitter will also not include "liked by" and "followed by" suggestions from people a user does not follow and will only provide trending trends in its "about you" tab for US users that include "additional meaning." And when a user attempts to retweet a tweet labeled "misleading," they will see a prompt pointing them to reliable information before they can retweet the wrong data.
Twitter has branded some of Trump's tweets for breaking his laws on manipulated media and public honesty, and for tweeting falsehoods about mail-in voting. However, the labels did not seem to dissuade the President. After Twitter branded a misleading tweet about mail-in voting in May, Trump signed an executive order to limit the protection given to social media sites under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Last month, Twitter introduced a new set of rules to counter disinformation ahead of the US election, including proposals to mark or delete tweets containing misleading details about election rigging and performance. It also said that it will mark candidates' posts prematurely proclaiming victory, and last year it banned all political advertisements.
Changes are going to roll out to users in the coming days. Twitter says that it has already expanded its staff working on the US election to respond to any election day issues that arise.
