Offending tweets will have a warning placed on them.
QUICK FACTS:
- Twitter announced that it will be implementing a “crisis misinformation policy” meant to suppress posts with “viral misinformation,” according to Fox Business.
- The company announced Thursday that they will allow Twitter representatives to censor or downplay the distribution of posts they determine to be false or misleading.
- “Today, we’re introducing our crisis misinformation policy – a global policy that will guide our efforts to elevate credible, authoritative information, and will help to ensure viral misinformation isn’t amplified or recommended by us during crises,” the company said.
- “For the purposes of this policy, we define crises as situations in which there is a widespread threat to life, physical safety, health, or basic subsistence,” the company went on to say. “This definition is consistent with the United Nations’ definition of a humanitarian crisis and other humanitarian assessments.”
TWITTER’S OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE CHANGE:
- “In times of crisis, misleading information can undermine public trust and cause further harm to already vulnerable communities,” Yoel Roth, the company’s head of safety and integrity, wrote in a blog post.
- “Alongside our existing work to make reliable information more accessible during crisis events, this new approach will help to slow the spread by us of the most visible, misleading content, particularly that which could lead to severe harms.”
BACKGROUND:
- Twitter has been accused of conservative censorship, particularly in recent years following the banning of former President Donald Trump.
- The company is also facing potentially massive change if the purchase of the company by tech billionaire Elon Musk is completed.
