Misinformation and fake news are two deadly poisonous that affect society. In these times of pandemic they are even more dangerous. Especially hen people are feared about the COVID-19 and fake claims and remedies are being circulated.
.@Twitter to add warning labels to tweets with misleading information about #COVID19 | https://t.co/QKewqiYngp pic.twitter.com/XP6dJ5LPuF
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 11, 2020
Popular micro-blogging website Twitter has decided to take some action against this. The social media platform would add labels and warning messages on some tweets with disputed or misleading information about COVID-19. “Twitter’s new labels will provide links to more information in cases where the risk of harm from the tweet is not severe enough to be removed but people could be confused or misled”, said the company in its blog post.
The action from Twitter would depend upon the propensity for harm and type of misleading information in the tweet. Warnings would also be added to some misleading tweets before a user views it. Meanwhile, YouTube said it would also start showing information panels with third-party, fact-checked articles for U.S. video search results.
However, Twitter is not following that approach. “One of the differences in our approach here is that we’re not waiting for a third party to have made a cast-iron decision one way or another. We’re reflecting the debate, rather than stating the outcome of a deliberation”, said a statement from Twitter. The platform has earlier banned posts with misleading information on COVID-19 from its platform.
