As part of its latest efforts to clamp down on misinformation, Twitter will now warn you when you try to like a disputed, labelled tweet.
In the run up to the 2020 US presidential election, Twitter started attaching warning labels onto posts with disputed or misleading information. Now, it is adding another layer of warnings for users in an attempt to crack down on misinformation on the platform.
The social network said that when a user tries to like a disputed post, they will be shown a warning telling them that there is disputed information in the post and guiding them to a support page.
“Giving context on why a labeled tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital,” said the company. “These prompts helped decrease quote tweets of misleading information by 29% so we’re expanding them to show when you tap to like a labeled tweet.”
Giving context on why a labeled Tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital.
These prompts helped decrease Quote Tweets of misleading information by 29% so we’re expanding them to show when you tap to like a labeled Tweet. pic.twitter.com/WTK164nMfZ
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 23, 2020
It seems Twitter believes if the content has fewer likes, this will further encourage people not to interact with certain dubious information. Twitter’s algorithm works in a way that if you like a tweet, it’s likely that your followers will see it, so the new move should limit the reach of the content if indeed people heed the warning.
The company has had some success with similar initiatives. This year, Twitter introduced a new feature that showed people a warning message if they tried to share a link that they hadn’t even opened.
According to The Verge, Twitter said that this latest functionality will be rolled out initially for web and iOS users, with those on Android expecting to receive it in the coming weeks.
