There has been a lot of criticism about how big tech and social media have not done enough to fight the spread of misinformation and disinformation on their platforms. It’s not a matter of just politics but these kind of information can be a matter of life and death. Twitter is now testing out an easier way for its users to report posts that they believe to be false by putting a “misleading post” report button. This is one of the steps that they have taken the past year or so to combat the spread of fake, wrong or deliberately misleading information on the platform.
You actually have a way of reporting misinformation now on Twitter, but it isn’t the easiest. You have to choose from several options why you want to report it like “it’s suspicious or spam” and then further narrow it down to specific sub-categories. So if you’re continually scrolling through Twitter and you’re too busy or lazy to report through this current process, you probably just skipped it and hoped other people would report it.
Now Twitter announced it’s testing out a new feature to make it easier for people to report it. A small number of users in the US, South Korea, and Australia will see an option to flag a tweet that they think is misleading. After you click on Report Tweet, you’ll see the option there that says “it’s misleading”. They said that they may not take action on the reports yet as they’re still assessing if this is an effective way for reporting.
We’re testing a feature for you to report Tweets that seem misleading – as you see them. Starting today, some people in the US, South Korea, and Australia will find the option to flag a Tweet as “It’s misleading” after clicking on Report Tweet.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 17, 2021
Twitter has been continuously cracking down on misinformation the past year or so. They have suspended and banned accounts that were spreading harmful COVID-19 tweets and links. They have also started putting warning labels on possibly misleading tweets and have been testing other reporting methods so users can help identify users and actual posts that are causing harm especially when it comes to public health.
If all goes well, Twitter plans to launch this “misleading post” report button to other countries. But no news yet when we’re getting a wider rollout so for now it’s a small group that will see this reporting option.
