Twitter allowing users to report tweets that seem misleading

Twitter has begun experimenting with a new feature that allows users of its popular social media service to flag misleading posts or tweets made on the platform for potential moderation or removal.

As of Tuesday, Twitter said that some of its users in the U.S., South Korea and Australia can report tweets posted on the platform that “seem misleading,” its latest effort to combat online misinformation.

“We’re assessing if this is an effective approach so we’re starting small,” Twitter said in a tweet announcing the new feature.

“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,” Twitter added.

Twitter users have long been able to report tweets for potential violations of the platform’s rules, such as posts that seem like spam, are suspicious, abusive, harmful or expresses intent to self-harm.

With the new feature, where available, Twitter users now have the additional option when reporting a tweet: “It’s misleading”

Twitter users who flag a tweet for being misleading are further asked if the post is misleading about politics, health or something else before submitting their report.

A number of Republicans with popular, verified Twitter accounts were quick to criticize the feature by predicting it will be used to silence conservative voices.

“Liberals now have a new tool to try and censor conservatives. What could go wrong?” said Jane Timken, the former chair of the Ohio Republican Party.

“Fantastic. Liberals have a new tool to mass report conservatives to the Ministry Of Truth,” said Carmine Sabia, a self-described conservative with a Twitter account followed by more than 60,000 users.

Social media companies have previously faced criticism for allowing misinformation and disinformation about political elections, candidates and the novel coronavirus pandemic to spread on their services.

President Biden said last month that social media platforms are “killing people” by letting bogus claims circulate about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and the vaccines that prevent it.

Twitter prohibits users sharing false or misleading information about COVID-19 “which may lead to harm.” Its rules also prohibit users from misleading others about “when, where or how” to particulate in an election, among other conduct.

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