Twitter has rolled out a plan to slap labels and warnings on certain tweets in an effort against misleading claims about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The social media platform on Monday announced it will begin adding labels to tweets "containing potentially harmful, misleading information related to COVID-19," directing users toward information on the topic from trusted sources. Additionally, some tweets will receive a warning that will "inform people that the information in the tweet conflicts with public health experts' guidance before they view it," Twitter said, with this depending on "the propensity for harm and type of misleading information."
In an example shared by Twitter, a label warns that "some or all of the content shared in this tweet conflicts with guidance from public health experts regarding COVID-19," and users have to select "view" before they see the content in question.
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For misleading information, if the propensity for harm is "moderate," it will receive a label, but if the propensity for harm is "severe," it will be removed, according to a chart Twitter shared. Disputed claims will either get a label or a warning depending on if the propensity for harm is moderate or severe. Twitter was previously taking down certain harmful posts about the coronavirus, such as the false claim that social distancing doesn't slow its spread, The Associated Press notes.
Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of site integrity, says "we are not fact-checking every piece of content on Twitter," but these labels will help "provide further context," NBC News reports. Twitter previously rolled out similar labels for synthetic and manipulated media. Just recently, a misleading viral video from Jimmy Kimmel's show falsely suggesting Vice President Mike Pence carried empty boxes of personal protective equipment into a nursing home received one of these "manipulated media" labels.
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