Social-Media
Twitter is deploying new security features to avoid the chaos of Election Day
Twitter will begin to allow high-profile political accounts to take improved security steps ahead of the 2020 US election, the company announced Thursday.
In a blog post, Twitter said elected leaders, members of Congress, political parties, major news outlets, political journalists, and other government officials will be motivated to take improved security measures ahead of the election. Over the next few days, Twitter will automatically turn on password reset protection for these accounts while recommending that these high-profile users turn on two-factor authentication. These accounts would also include the use of strong passwords.
Voters, political candidates, elected officials and journalists rely on Twitter every day to share and find accurate news and information about the elections, and we take our duty seriously, Twitter wrote on Thursday's blog post. As we benefit from previous security events experience and change, we are still focused on keeping high-profile Twitter accounts safe and stable during the 2020 US election.
These protection prompts will be sent to individual election-related users via an in-app update. Twitter says they will continue to alert these followers of new precautions that they should take to secure their identities as the 2020 election progresses. The organization also reports that it will introduce internal security protections for these accounts, including new ways of reacting to fraudulent activities and rapid recovery of accounts where takeovers occur.
For months, election observers have cautioned that political parties could falsely announce election results before they are completed, with messy and possibly untrustworthy statements distributed through media outlets and social networks. Facebook and Twitter have now changed their policies to either mark or delete posts that announce elections early or make accusations of election manipulation. If big accounts were hacked to propagate propaganda, the confusion could escalate drastically.
The latest emphasis on popular accounts follows one of the worst infringements that Twitter has experienced in its history.
Accounts belonging to political leaders such as President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Michael Bloomberg have been hacked by hackers for use in a major bitcoin scheme. Responding to the violation, Twitter disabled all new tweets from any confirmed user. Thursday's announcement seems to be an attempt to deter such crimes in the future as the election approaches.
In the run-up to the election, Twitter reworked its content policy and pushed out new tools to help users find reputable information. Twitter also launched its election portal, offering information on voting in both English and Spanish.
The hub exists above the Discover U.S. profile tab which will contain Twitter moments from "reputable news sources" and other material such as live stream discussion.
