Twitter now labels misleading coronavirus tweets with a misleading label
Twitter is playing catch up in building a strategy to combat coronavirus misinformation. | Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images
Following in the footsteps of Facebook, Twitter is flagging coronavirus hoaxes and misinformation for users. Amid a surge of misinformation triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic , Twitter has announced yet another update to its policies regarding conspiracy theories and fake news. Now, Covid-19 tweets that are considered misleading will get labels designed to offer more context about the information therein. Tweets making potentially harmful claims disputed by experts will now come with a more direct warning message.
Twitter explained in a blog post that its new strategy for dealing with problematic tweets takes a three-pronged approach. The specific action taken will depend on whether the company deems the claims in a tweet as “misleading,” “disputed,” or “unverified.” Based on how severe the claims made in the tweet are, the company will apply either a label or a warning. Here’s a handy graphic for which types of content get a label versus a warning — or no action at all:
Removal is obviously the most serious consequence outlined here. A warning is next-most serious. Content with disputed information that Twitter thinks carries a severe propensity for harm will get one of these warning messages.
In this case, the entire tweet might be blocked off, with a note that the content shared “conflicts with guidance from public health experts.” Twitter said these changes will also be applied to tweets sent before today.
Twitter will block out some misleading information by noting that it goes against the guidance of public health authorities. For tweets deemed moderately harmful, Twitter will insert a link underneath the tweet directing users to reliable information. This strategy mimics the company’s approach to deepfakes , which was announced earlier this year. But it’s not quite clear how the note — “Get the facts about COVID-19” — will be interpreted since it doesn’t actually contradict anything said in a false tweet. Users must also click through the label to get redirected to a page with related fact-checked content. For example, here’s what you’ll see if you click on a label that’s been attached to a tweet about 5G and the coronavirus.
Twitter is flagging tweets about the novel coronavirus with labels that tell users to “Get the facts about COVID-19.” Speaking of tweets about 5G and the coronavirus, Recode did a quick search and identified several tweets pushing the conspiracy theory that the cellular technology and the pandemic are related. Many of those tweets — though not all — included the new label. But it appears that simply mentioning 5G and the coronavirus together might automatically generate the label. For now, it’s not hard to find tweets discuss 5G and the...
