After a year in which grifters and conspiracy theorists have spread an alarming amount of misinformation online, Twitter is finally testing a way for users to report misleading content on the platform.
The test is limited to the US, South Korea and Australia for now and users in those countries will be presented with a “It’s misleading” option when reporting a tweet.
“We’re assessing if this is an effective approach so we’re starting small. 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,” said Twitter.
We’re testing a feature for you to report Tweets that seem misleading – as you see them. Starting today, some people in the US, South Korea, and Australia will find the option to flag a Tweet as “It’s misleading” after clicking on Report Tweet.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 17, 2021
The reaction to this has been mixed.
While some folks are happy that they will be able to report those spreading misinformation, especially as regards COVID-19, many more have pointed out how this feature could be abused.
As several users have pointed out, Twitter’s restriction on characters means that tweets often lack nuance and as such anything said on the platform can be interpreted as misinformation if you really start to pick it apart.
With that having been said, there is a difference between saying “Your pasta water should be as salty as the ocean” and “Vaccines contain microchips”.
That in turn raises even more questions about how Twitter will respond to these reports. If it isn’t able to respond to every report while conducting an experiment on a small scale, we’re not confident it would be able to address reports in any meaningful capacity should this feature reach the global user base.
So, while Twitter is testing this feature there is no guarantee it will be made available to all.
Guess we’re going to have to stick with muting or outright blocking folks spreading lies online.
