Twitter to add warnings on misleading tweets about the war
Twitter has announced rules on how to treat tweets about crisis like the war in Ukraine. Tweets that are estimated to be misleading will not be removed but will show up with a warning.
How social media handle statements about the war is controversial. Shortly after the Russian invasion, Facebook said it would temporarily allow for calls of violence against Russian leaders and soldiers invading Ukraine. Meta recently changed its mind saying it does not want its Oversight Board to provide guidelines for content moderation issues related to the war. This makes it unclear how Meta/Facebook will handle the continuing war.
People on Twitter will be required to click through the warning notice to view the tweet, and the content won’t be amplified or recommended across the service. In addition, Retweets, and Shares will be disabled, and the notice will link to more information about the company´s approach to crisis misinformation, Twitter says in a blog post.
”Content moderation is more than just leaving up or taking down content, and we’ve expanded the range of actions we may take to ensure they’re proportionate to the severity of the potential harm. We’ve found that not amplifying or recommending certain content, adding context through labels, and in severe cases, disabling engagement with the tweets, are effective ways to mitigate harm, while still preserving speech and records of critical global events.”
“Teams at Twitter have worked to develop a crisis misinformation framework since last year, drawing on key input from global experts and human rights organizations. 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. This definition is consistent with the United Nations’ definition of a humanitarian crisis and other humanitarian assessments.”
Some examples of Tweets that we may add a warning notice to include:
- False coverage or event reporting, or information that mischaracterizes conditions on the ground as a conflict evolves;
- False allegations regarding use of force, incursions on territorial sovereignty, or around the use of weapons;
- Demonstrably false or misleading allegations of war crimes or mass atrocities against specific populations;
- False information regarding international community response, sanctions, defensive actions, or humanitarian operations.
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