{"id":18664,"date":"2022-03-04T03:15:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T03:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/04\/in-an-effort-to-fight-misinformation-twitter-expands-its-crowdsourced-fact-checking-tool\/"},"modified":"2022-03-04T03:15:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T03:15:58","slug":"in-an-effort-to-fight-misinformation-twitter-expands-its-crowdsourced-fact-checking-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/04\/in-an-effort-to-fight-misinformation-twitter-expands-its-crowdsourced-fact-checking-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"In an effort to fight misinformation, Twitter expands its crowdsourced fact-checking tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Twitter Inc. said today that some of its users will start seeing notes under their posts telling them that they\u2019ve been flagged by members of the public for sharing dubious information.<\/p>\n

This started last year as part of a program called \u201cBirdwatch<\/a>\u201d, although during the trial stage it was only made available to 10,000 users in the U.S. Rather than ask a third-part fact-checking company to review posts, Birdwatch asks other users to check out information for its reliability and if deemed necessary, flag the post and explain why in the notes.<\/p>\n

At the time, Twitter said it was important to get regular people to fact-check posts, adding that in the pilot program people had been chosen from various parts of the political spectrum. Until now the details of what happened in the program have only been available on a dedicated Birdwatch website.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s coming to the wider public, but only to a selected group of people. Now, when a person\u2019s post is flagged by the fact-checkers, there will be a rating system in which they can approve or disprove the added context in the notes. \u201cTo appear on a Tweet, notes first need to be rated helpful by enough Birdwatch contributors from different perspectives,\u201d Twitter explained. \u201cDifference in perspectives is determined by how people have rated notes in the past, not based on demographics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitter said the reason for the expansion was based on what it called \u201cpromising\u201d results, stating that 20- 40% percent of people were \u201cless likely to agree with the substance of a potentially misleading Tweet after reading a note about it, compared to those who saw a Tweet without a note.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which reviewed over 2,000 notes, said<\/a> that less than half of the people cited sources when fact-checking and many of the notes contained \u201cpartisan rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

An example of a note was some added context to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019s simple explanation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She was mocked by many people on social media for her simplicity, leaving out years of political history when she said, \u201cRussia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine so basically that\u2019s wrong.\u201d But the note contained the reason why she said that. She\u2019d appeared on a podcast called the Morning Hustle, and had been asked to explain the conflict in \u201claymen\u2019s terms.\u201d Twitter users said they found this note helpful.<\/p>\n

Another note appeared below a viral video, which seems to show an ice-cream seller saving a child from abduction. It looks completely fake, and according to the fact-checkers, it is. The note said, \u201cThis video is most likely scripted or setup. Similar video exists with same people.\u201d Even so, the video is still being shared all over the world and people seem to have fallen for the show.<\/p>\n

Photo: Alexander Shatov<\/a>\/Unsplash<\/h5>\n
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