New Twitter Rules Will Crack Down On Election Misinfo

The Washington Post reports:

Twitter will impose new warnings on politicians’ lies, restrict premature declarations of victory and block calls for polling violence or other disruptions, the company announced Friday as it rolled out wide-ranging changes designed to harden the platform against abuse related to the Nov. 3 U.S. election.

The moves also will temporarily alter the look and feel of Twitter, a service built on instantaneous conversation, quips, and breaking news. Retweeting others, for example, will require an extra step designed to encourage users to add their own thoughts before posting. Recommendations and trends will get new curbs intended to prevent abuse.

Twitter’s moves, like those announced recently by Facebook, are aimed mainly at combating efforts to manipulate the political landscape at critical moments in the hotly contested national vote

NPR reports:



The social media company will more aggressively limit the impact of posts it labels misleading. Most notably, it will hide tweets with false claims from American political figures, candidates or parties and other high-profile U.S. users behind warning screens. Users will have to click past the warnings to read these tweets.

Twitter will hide misleading tweets behind warning screens, similar to the ones it has used for posts that break its rules but are left up because of public interest.
Screenshot by NPR

“Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and may be misleading,” the warning will read. That label will also will appear prominently above the tweet, once users click past the warning screen.