Twitter Birdwatch Is a New Tool to Combat Misinformation on the Social Network 6rr4r Technology News

The ‘Add to Birdwatch’ feature could let s explain why they think a tweet is misleading or dangerous. e4m23

By Veer Arjun Singh | Updated: 6 October 2020 22:18 IST

Twitter does not seem to be any close to launching its new feature 504l5s

Highlights

Twitter's new feature goes beyond just flagging a tweet
Birdwatch could ask s to explain why they think a tweet is misleading
The crowdsourced data could be used to remove fake news

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Twitter has confirmed that it is developing a new tool to counter misinformation. Dubbed “Birdwatch”, the new feature could allow s to flag tweets, add notes to explain their suspicion, and fill up a survey form that estimates the tweet's potential harm and reach. Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane), who was the first to spot the feature in early August, has since shared more screenshots that give a glimpse into how the feature could use crowdsourced data to moderate content on the platform.

Through multiple screenshots on acquired by Twitter in 2015, confirmed in a reply that he would soon be sharing more on Birdwatch.

obviously the middle one should've been captioned “(2/2)”

gosh i was in such a rush tweeting that out, it's too late ????

here's the corrected version: pic.twitter.com/NiBDsc7PGT
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 3, 2020

Building up to the confirmation from Beykpour, social media consultant Matt Navarra, too, had shared a screenshot last week, which showed a tiny binoculars icon appearing below a tweet that allowed him to access the “Add to Birdwatch” feature.

New Twitter feature?

‘Birdwatch'?! ????

Any guesses what it does? pic.twitter.com/1vmpZdTKLi
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) September 30, 2020

In her earlier tweet, Wong had also shown how the “Birdwatch” feature would enable s to add notes to the tweet they were flagging. The history of notes on the tweet could then be made available for other / s to see and vote on.

Twitter is working on a moderation tool to monitor misinformations on Twitter

s can flag tweets, vote on whether it is misleading, and add a note about it

(I made up my own note to show what it currently looks like) pic.twitter.com/YIa6zt58Fj
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 5, 2020

But the leaks into the working of this misinformation feature leave a lot to be answered. It's still not clear if the feature will be open to all s, a specific set of fact checkers, or Twitter's own band of s; it is also important to observe how Twitter plans to restrict the potential trolling that this feature could unleash on the platform.

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