Twitter appears to have begun testing the addition of a cautionary label to tweets with false or misleading content. The first such experiment was applied to a tweet shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino.
The tweet shows a video of former Vice President Joe Biden and bears the tag "manipulated media" to indicate that it was deceptive. The test is part of a new policy by Twitter that aims to help users understand if a particular tweet they see is authentic or not. It also seeks to provide more context about content shared on its platform. Twitter does so by flagging tweets with a "deceptively altered or fabricated" message on videos, audio, and images.
The micro-blogging site also cautions users from sharing "deceptively altered media on Twitter in ways that mislead or deceive people about the media"s authenticity where threats to physical safety or other serious harm may result". The prefabricated video that circulated on Sunday suggested that Biden endorsed President Donald Trump for re-election, which was not exactly the case.
However, the label was added only 18 hours after Scavino retweeted the video, which was viewed by at least 5 million users afterward. The experiment was not without a bug, though, as it did not appear when users searched for Scavino’s tweet. Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough explained that it was showing up on users’ timelines and that the company was working to fix it.
It"s not clear for now as to when Twitter will roll out this feature widely. Nonetheless, it"s a welcome change for individuals who have been calling for the site to act on deceptive or doctored content on its platform.
Source: The Washington Post