Twitter is now putting warning labels on tweets that include possible misinformation on the coronavirus, the social media company announced Monday.
The warnings will provide Twitter users with a link to “get the facts about COVID-19” or will flag content in a tweet that “conflicts with guidance from public health experts,” NBC News reports.
In addition, users may be provided with extra context from medical experts or the World Health Organization, Twitter told NBC News.
Twitter will remove statements completely if they are confirmed to be false and pose severe harm, the company said. The social media platform ordered the president of Brazil to remove a video from his account where he was shown endorsing an unproven antiviral drug.
The new feature, geared toward curbing the spread of bad medical advice, hoaxes and misinformation, is new for the social media platform. Facebook and other social media networks have previously implemented fake news warnings and amped them up during the coronavirus pandemic.
“These labels are a way for us to provide further context,” Yoel Roth, head of site integrity at Twitter, said on a conference call with reporters, adding that the labels will allow users to form their own opinions. “We are not fact-checking every piece of content on Twitter and have heard clearly that’s not what people want us to do.”
Twitter said the company may extend the warning to other topics like conspiracy theories that tend to go viral on social media.
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