Twitter to allow users in US, South Korea, and Australia to report misleading tweets

August 18, 2021 TH Author

Twitter said on Wednesday it was conducting a test that would allow users in the United States, South Korea, and Australia to report misleading tweets.

The option will appear to users after clicking on the button to report a tweet.

“We’re assessing if this is an effective approach so we’re starting small,” Twitter’s safety account said.

“We may not take action on and cannot respond to each report in the experiment, but your input will help us identify trends so that we can improve the speed and scale of our broader misinformation work.”

In February, Twitter was joined by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Redbubble, and TikTok in signing up to the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation.

Political advertising is not misinformation or disinformation for the purposes of the code.

In its first transparency report under the code released in May, Twitter said it had taken action against 3.5 million accounts globally for violation of rules, including suspending 1 million accounts and removing 4.5 million pieces of content. For 3,400 accounts globally, it was in relation to misleading information about COVID-19.

In Australia specifically, 37,000 Australian Twitter accounts were actioned for violating Twitter rules, resulting in 7,200 accounts being suspending and 47,000 pieces of content authored by an Australian account being removed.

Twitter began automatically labelling tweets it regarded as having misleading information about COVID-19 and its vaccines, as well as a strike system that includes temporary account locks and can led to permanent suspension.

While the system has led to the repeated suspension of misinformation peddlers such as US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the system cannot handle sarcasm from users attempting humour on the topics of COVID-19 and 5G.

In April, the Australian Department of Health published a page attempting to dispell any link between vaccines and internet connectivity.

“COVID-19 vaccines do not — and cannot — connect you to the internet,” it stated.

“Some people believe that hydrogels are needed for electronic implants, which can connect to the internet. The Pfizer mRNA vaccine does not use hydrogels as a component.”

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